The 69th Hunger Games
by Nicolette May Summers
Summary: Ever wonder what it was like to be IN the Hunger Games? Before Peeta and Katniss? Well, it's your time! Create a character to be in the Hunger Games! The 69th Hunger Games are here and YOU get to be in them!  Please read the Author's Note at the end first!
1. Application

**_INTRODUCING THE 69th HUNGER GAMES! PLEASE FILL OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW TO FILL THE SLOTS BELOW!_**

******District 1:**

**Female-SLOT FILLED! Name: Laurette (She's 15)**

**Male-**

**District 2:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 3:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 4:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 5:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 6:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 7:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 8:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 9:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 10:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 11:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**District 12:**

**Female-**

**Male-**

**APPLICATION:**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Paired?**

**I NEED A PAIRING FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER FROM DISTRICT 1!**

**Description:**

**Score on Evaluation Test:**

**Skills:**

**Bad at what?**

**Appearance:**

**Personality:**

**Friends/Family:**

**Last normal day in their district:**

**Brave?**

**Favorite Color:**

**Likes to kill? Hates to kill people?**

**District:**

**Weapon:**

**Strenths:**

**Weaknesses:**

**Quotes for Interview (Up to four):**

**MENTOR APPLICATION**

**Mentor's Name:**

**District:**

**Age:**

**How old when won the games:**

**Regrets?:**

**What their games were like:**

**Personality:**

**P.S. GIRLS CAN BE MENTORS TOO! Boys don't just win. It's a known fact. And these games are BEFORE Peeta and Katniss's. It's a blast into the past.**

**THANKS! I'll update when the slots are filled and show which are filled halfway thru!**


	2. The Final, Complete List!

**_INTRODUCING THE 69th HUNGER GAMES! PLEASE FILL OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW TO FILL THE SLOTS BELOW! MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR!_**

******District 1 (Luxury Goods):**

**Female-Laurette Emmerlyn, Nicolette May Summers**

**Male-Sky, by Nacasia Cecelia Trifiro**

**District 2 (Medicine):**

**Female-Ruby Zershmeide, by Peace674's Sis**

**Male-Jax Urgene, by Peace674**

**District 3 (Machinery/Factories):**

**Female-Selena, by Peace674**

**Male-Demitri Getlyn, Peace674**

**District 4 (Fishing):**

**Female-Julia, by Jenna**

**Male-Darren "DK", by Kayla Casey**

**District 5 (Breeding/Splicing DNA):**

**Female-Violet Rose, ysugirl**

**Male-Salem Felding, by Vividly Visceral**

**District 6 (Scientific Research):**

**Female-Pansy, Nacasia Cecelia Trifiro**

**Male-Raolf Wryburn, by Peace674**

**District 7 (Lumber and Construction):**

**Female-Acacia "Ace" March, by CloudyNK**

**Male-Christopher James, by Me**

**District 8 (Weaving/Clothes-Making):**

**Female-Cotton Weaver, by CloudyNK**

**Male-Eli Ghiorzori, by Peace674**

**District 9 (Hunters/Food Processing):**

**Female-Thailey Horonsm, by Peace674**

**Male-Egor, by Nacsia Cecelia Trifiro**

**District 10 (Mathmatics):**

**Female-Hailie Vernon, Peace674**

**Male-Rian Bulgoze, by Peace674**

**District 11 (Agriculture):**

**Female-Piper, by Nacasia Cecelia Trifiro**

**Male-Taftan, by Nacasia Cecelia Trifiro**

**District 12 (Coal Mining):**

**Female-Johanna Drake, by Bandgeek791**

**Male-Bret Wiley, Peace674**


	3. Laurette Emmerlyn

**This is Chapter 1 of The 69th Hunger Games! May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!**

**1. Laurette**

I walked with my best friend, Carridity. We were on our way to her house. Her mother was to make us our dresses. She was a tailor here, for District one. She was the _best_. We were meeting up with some of our other friends later and we were going to stand together during the reaping.

"Laurette, before we go to my house, we have to pick up something from the bakery." Carridity said.

I nodded and we changed direction, heading towards the bakery. When we got there, we walked inside the loud store, beeping noises echoing throughout the big room. We saw about six or seven others in the room buying bread, talking loudly.

"Carridity, what kind did your mom want?" I asked, craning my neck to look in the windows filled with different kids of delicious freshly baked bread.

I inhaled deeply, letting the aurora of wonderful scents fill my nose.

"She wanted the low-cal pita bread. It's supposed to be _really_expensive. I don't have enough. All I have are four fictitious gems, a six-carat diamond and a sapphire gem. What do you have?" She asked.

I opened my over-shoulder pouch and went through it. Let's see ... let's see ...

"I have seven fictitious gems, a ruby, an emerald ... and five little one-carat diamonds."

She nodded. "Can you ask 'em how much a trade would be?"

I nodded and stepped up to a taller-looking man. "Hello, sir. How much to trade for three pounds of the low-calorie pita bread?"

He smiled, "Well, Laurette, it'll run ya four two-carat diamonds and a ruby gem."

I stared at him and ordered, "Name?"

"Glare. Now, do ya got it, or ya don't?" he asked.

I sighed. "I'll check."

I walked back to Carridity. "He wants four two-carat diamonds and a ruby. Whatd'ya got, again?"

"Four fictitious gems, a six-carat and a sapphire. Didn't you say you had seven fictitious, a _ruby, _and an emerald. Oh, and five one-carats." She answered.

"What if we give him your six-carat, my ruby and two of my diamonds. It'll add up to the same amount as four two-carat diamonds and a ruby. Alrighty?" I asked.

She nodded, handing her six-carat to me.

I walked back up to Glare and plopped the ruby and the diamonds on the glass countertop. "A six-carat and two one-carats. And, as you asked, a ruby."

"No, no, miss. I told you, _four two-carats_."

I shook my head vigorously. "Well this adds up to the same amount. If you don't want it, I'll just leave. I'll just leave and I won't give you the extra one-carat tip I was planning on giving you."

He hesitated as if to see if I was bluffing.

I raised my eyebrows, grabbed the gems and began walking out of the store.

"Wait! Miss, Laurette!"

I hesitated on the handle, "What?"

"It's a trade."

I smiled.

* * *

We walked out of the bakery, proudly carrying our pound of pita bread. You see, here in District One, we trade gems and diamonds. Believe it or not, here, they actually aren't worth a whole lot on the count of them being made so much here. District One makes luxury goods such as diamonds, jewelry, maybe even fancy clothes. We kinda steal District Eight's light. We make so much gems that we have _tons_ left over. So, we use that as currency. Some people view us as 'suck-ups' but really, we're not. Most people hate us because we're part of the Careers in the Hunger Games. We're the most feared and hated amongst all the Districts. It's such a bad advantage.

"Hey, Laur-whatever-your-name-is." My least favorite person in the world said. It was Glimmer.

"Whatd'ya want, Glim?"

"You are _such_ a haggler. You shook those three pounds of pita bread right out of my brother. That's not fair."

"Oh, c'mon, Glimmer. You and I both know that he priced it too high. I _also_ gave him a one-carat diamond tip." I told her as-a-matter-of-factly.

She rolled her eyes, "Wow, that's a tip made for poor people. Perfect for District Twelve! You'd be the richest, most sophisticated person in the world to those people."

I restrained myself from punching her. I had a friend/penpal in District Twelve. Her name was Prim. She wrote about her family and how they didn't know about her writing to me. That they'd hate her if she told anyone about what she was doing.

"You know what?" I asked her. "You're going to die by a District Twelve tribute in the Hunger Games one day."

"Wow. You're stupid." She rolled her eyes.

"Keep tellin' yourself that, Glim, it's never going to get to me."

And she stomped away.

I sighed and looked over at Carridity. She had dirty blonde, long, curly hair and a light golden tan. She had emerald green eyes and a perfect white smile. I was the complete opposite. Well, not really. I have golden brown hair with blonde streaks and hard-to-see red strands. I have long, and a cross between curly and wavy hair. I have ocean blue eyes with two little eclipse enveloped suns in the middle. I also have a white smile that people say 'glittered'.

I had a twin. But when she was thirteen, she was chosen into the Hunger Games. I wanted to step in for her but she told me I couldn't. I was going to swap spots when nobody was looking but I decided against it. She was later killed. She was killed near the end. She was part of the ... 66th Hunger Games. Now I could be part of the 6_9th_ Hunger Games. I have a good chance of it, too. This year, I have my name in four times. I'm sixteen and will be seventeen in November. So, two months! But technically I am still sixteen. **(AN: I'm sorry! I just had to add this! But Katniss's b-day is on mine! May 8th! Cool huh? When I read that, I freaked out!)**

"Carridity, when does the reaping begin?" I asked.

"Two." She answered.

I nodded. "We'd better head to your mom's house. Did she finish tailoring the dresses?"

She nodded, "Yup! They're _sooo_ pretty! They look li-"

"Ah-la-la-la! I'm not listening! Don't tell me!" I shouted, covering my ears, causing people to stare.

"Fine." She grumbled.

"Good. Now, how's Cassidina? I heard she's having health problems." I said, referring to her little three year old sister who was born with a birth defect and tons of allergies. I felt so bad for her. Carridity also had two older brothers, James, he's twenty-one and _hot_ and Johnathan, he's nineteen. Lucky for both of them, they're out of the reaping but they're still in for a real nail-biter considering Carridity and I are in it four times this year. And we won't be out of it for two more times after this ends.

We walked back to her house and her mother greated us happily and energetically. That's actually an understatement. She was _ecstatic!_ She rushed us into her tailoring room and pulled the blankets off of the mannequins.

I gasped and walked up, touching the beautiful fabric. They were wonderful!

My dress was marked with a piece of paper pinned onto the hem. It was a short, silver, sparkly dress that stopped mid-thigh beautifully. The ends were folded inside all around the bottom to give it a bubbly-bottom look. There was a light blue fabric-belt about three inches long that circled just below my chest. It was a dress with straps made of the same fabric-belt material (except it's not blue, it's still silver). The chest area above the fabric-belt is super sparkly with bright, silvery sparkles. The skirt part, however, isn't sparkly. **(AN: The dress is below!)**

Carridity's dress was the same except the sparkles were gold, the overall dress was gold and the dress fabric-belt was light green.

"What shoes?" Carridity asked distractedly. For us, this was one of the things that we could do that we could dress up for.

"Laurette's shoes are these silver, sparkly, strappy high heels. Carridity, yours are the gold ones just like them." Carriditiy's mother said, pointing to the boxes lying against the wall.

We excitedly skipped over and opened the boxes.

"Can we get dressed?" I asked.

She nodded. "Please. You have an hour. Put on some eye makeup and lipstick, too. It'll look great!"

* * *

The bell in the clock tower nearby rang as it struck two. We were all grouped together, waiting for the reaping to start. Then, Peggy, our _super_ annoying announcer stepped up.

"Hello, District One! And welcome to the 69th annual Hunger Games' reaping! May the odds be ever in your favor!" She announced and spun the large, silver, rectangular box. She spun and spun, then she reached in and pulled out a name.

"And the girl for District one who will be in the 69th annual Hunger Games is ..."

Carridity and I grasped each other's hands for life. We were staring at our sparkly shoes.

Trillions of thoughts ran through my head like:

_Oh, no! What if it was me?_

_Oh, no! What if it's Carridity?_

_Oh, no! I forgot lipstick! Crap!_

_Don't worry! We've gone through this three times and never have gotten picked!_

_But wait! We're entered in more this year! Shoot!_

_Oh, no! The odds of me getting picked is-_

But then Peggy's voice cut me off, "Laurette Emmerlyn!"

_-one in a thousand._

And then, I fainted.

**

* * *

**

****

**NO SPACES! (KEEP THE SPACES BETWEEN SHOP AND DETAIL!) ht tp : / / www . windsorstore . com / shop_detail . aspx?id = 107770**

Review?

~Nikki


	4. Visitors

**This is Chapter 1 of The 69th Hunger Games! May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!**

**2. Waking Up And Finding Sky-My Supposed District 1 Ally**

A second later, I woke up, seeing everyone gathered around on the wooden stage, staring down at me.

I shot up, "Hola!" And smiled awkwardly.

"Why hola, to you, pretty young girl!" Peggy sang happily, her yellow curly hair. "Ladies and gentlemen? Volunteers? Anybody? None to get this pretty, young thing out of the death sentence known as the Hunger Games?" Wow, Peggy. Leave it to you to make me feel_ extra confident!_

I stared around at the kids. Man, it was so quiet, a cricket should've been chirping in the background. _Chirp! ... Chirp! ... CHIRP! ... FRIGGIN' CHIRP!_

"Oh. So _no one_is coming to this little damsel in distress's rescue, huh?" She asked.

I arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. Ex_cuse_ me? Since when am I a friggin' damsel in_ distress! _If I was talking, I'd be friggin' chirpin' my friggin' cricket lungs off!

"Alright. So your District One girl is chosen! May I have a round of applause for this young lady!"

Silence. Where was that friggin' cricket now? Oh yeah, in my friggin' imagination! You know, in case ya haven't noticed, I say 'friggin'' a lot when I get mad. Which was a lot. I have anger problems. Tee-hee.

Peggy skipped happily over to the other silver, shiny rectangular box, spinning it around and around, reached in and took out a piece of paper.

"And the District One boy is ..."

God, I hate the _friggin'_ suspense!

"Sky Hastings!"

We heard an echo of 'ooh's come from the boys section of the kids. I craned my neck, standing on my tiptoes (which does a ton, considering I'm like, only four, ten), seeking out this 'Sky'. He strode up next to me with grace and elegancy. I could tell already he was a jerk. His stature ... the way he held himself. It all pointed toward that. I mean, wasn't it obvious? He had golden hair and emerald green eyes. I mean, don't get me wrong, he was hot. But I'm not a sucker. And I don't fall for jerks like him. I think he was a year older than me. Well, he won't be when I turn seventeen in three months.

He stuck out his hand as Peggy said something. Realizing what she must've said, I reluctantly and gently placed my hand into his, giving it the tiniest of shakes. And then a _brilliant _idea struck me. I could play damsel-in-distress.

Oh, this was gonna be good.

* * *

The mayor began reading the Treaty of Treason. I wasn't listening. I was concentrating on looking weak and scared. I forced out tears, whimpers, gasps for breath, sniffles, whatever I could conjure up. I could now hear muted whispers throughout the crowds. I could hear sobbing. I knew who it was, too. It must've been my mother, my little sister, anyone from Carridity's family, or maybe even Carridity herself. Or all of them. My back was to them, but I could tell it was at least one.

I knew why they were sobbing. They were sobbing because I was sobbing. And because I was sobbing, it just confirmed their worst fears. I was gonna lose. Quick and bad. I was never coming back. Oh, but I was. I was ever so determined on coming back. This was just all part of the act. The act of winning, that is.

At that time, the anthem begins. It plays and plays and when it stops, we are taken into custody. A group of peacekeepers marched us into the Justice Building.

Once inside, they split Sky and I and took me into a room and left me alone. It had chairs and couches. Some pretty rugs. It wasn't the _nicest_ place I'd ever been in but ... here in District One, we are the richest people in Panem. So ... we have the richest things from clothes, to shoes, to furniture, to houses, to food. Oh, God, the _food_. It's so freaking delectable, it's not even funny.

At that time, Carridity was allowed inside. She rushed in, freaking out in a way that only Carridity's can freak out. She's a bit neurotic. And that's an understatement. She's _more_ than _super_ neurotic!

"Oh, no, oh no, oh, no, oh, no, oh, oh, oh, _achew!_" She sneezed. She _was_ pacing back and forth, saying '_oh, no', _but then she sneezed, hence the _'achew_' part. She then began repeating _'oh, no'_ while pacing over again, and began fanning her face.

"CARRIDITY! Calm!" I ordered.

She sighed and threw herself onto the three-person couch. "You'd better win. Alright? For me. For you're twin. For _everyone_ here in District One."

I smiled. "Gladly. But I won't for Glimmer. I hope she rots in a endless pit of despair."

Carridity laughed. "I hope so, too." She began another sentence but cut herself off. She was hesitant to say more.

"What is it Car? Spit it out!" I ordered.

"Agh, I can't keep anything from you." She gave up, "I like Sky. So don't kill him."

I stared, awestruck at her. I could not _believe_ she'd fall for some _jerk_ like Sky!

"W-well what if I have to? To live?" I asked her ferociously.

She sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "Then ..."

"Are you saying that I should _die_ if it's down to your needs and my survival? That I should choose _death_?" I asked incredulously.

"No, Laur, I didn't _say_ th-"

"Well you've said enough. You shoul-"

There was a loud rapping on the door and the door clicked open. A peacekeeper stuck her head in, "Minute left. Alright?"

I shook my head, "Carridity'll leave right now. Send in the next person."

The peacekeeper smiled. "Then she must leave. Come."

Carridity stared longingly at me as if she wanted to say some more or, at the very least, _apologize_. But she didn't. She got up and gently and quietly walked back around the couch towards the door. Her hand lingered on the doorframe one last time as she looked back. She then walked out, leaving me alone.

Now, James and Johnathan marched in quickly.

"Hello." I greated them without a tone, without emotion, staring past them at the plain white walls.

"Oh, my God, Retta! Are you alright? You fainted then you were sobbing." They said at once. I flinched at their annoying nickname.

"Yes. I am fine. Everything'll be clear once I kill my first victim." I said in the same tone, still not looking at Carridity's brothers.

"But-"

"Please go. I only want to see Cassie, Quell, your mother and my mother. That is it. Now _leave_." I barked harshly.

They sighed. "We wish you luck." John said.

I nodded and they walked out.

Next, Cassie, or Cassidina and her mother (AKA, Carridity's mom and little three-year-old sis).

Cassie was crying. "Laurette's gonna die! Laurette's gonna die!" She wailed.

I sighed and half smiled, "Thanks for making me feel confident, Cass." I said, taking her from Ginane, Carridity's mother.

"Are you alright, Laurette?" Ginane asked.

I nodded and smiled wider. "It'll be alright. I'm fine. Just ... are Quell and my mother next?"

She nodded. "Quell wants to come separately from your mother. Your father doesn't want to come at all."

I nodded, anticipating that. My father doesn't really like me. He favors Quell more. He doesn't like my other siblings either.

"Is Mansen coming? And Waverly?" I asked, referring to my younger brother, and my older sister.

"Yes. Mansen will be coming in with your mother, Quell after them, and Waverly after Quell. That is it. Unless someone else joined the line that I didn't see when I was out there. I'm heading to Sky next. He's Johnathan's friend. I've met him before. Sweet kid."

I nodded. "Thanks, Ginane."

She smiled and kissed my forehead. "You're ever so welcome." Her eyes filled with tears as she took the crying Cassidina back and walked out.

Next, my mother and little brother (he's eleven), Mansen walked in.

"Oh, Laurette!" My mother exclaimed, rushing over to hug me.

"Mom! Mom!" I said, pushing her off me, "Jeez! Calm!"

She took deep breaths and began sobbing.

"Calm down, mother." I rolled my eyes, rubbing her back.

"Are you going to be alright, Laurette?" Mansen asked.

I smiled, ruffling his messy, long jet black hair and replied, "I'll do just fine, Man."

He smiled. "I hope you do. Grandma one these games. We lost your duplicate. Don't make us lose you, too."

I smiled and shook my head, "Silly, silly. Grandmother died in the Second Quarter Quell. That's where we got Quell's name. Remember?"

He sighed and nodded. "I never met her. Was she awesome?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. I've never met her either."

"She was the best. But Quell was named for when she died and she was your father's mother." My mother said, cutting in. "She was wonderful. But Quell reminds your father so much of her that that's why he likes Quell."

We nodded.

Just then, a peacekeeper opened the door. "Scoot, scoot. You've got three more left."

I nodded and they left. Wait. _Three?_ Let's see, Quell, Waverly ... who else?

My mother and brother walked out and in walked Quell and Waverly. Together? I thought they were separate.

"We're running out of time." Quell said urgently. She's nine.

"Precisely. That is why we came in together. We need to warn you and give you something, alright?" Waverly asked. She's twenty. She's engaged to James.

First they both hugged me quickly. Then, Waverly and Quell began whispering to one another.

"What is it?" I asked quickly.

"Here!" Quell said, dropping a small necklace in my hands. It was made from a thin, silver chain, and had a small silver heart in the middle, encrusted with differect kinds of small-cut gemstones and diamonds.

"We want you to wear it in the chariots, when you leave and all throughout your time in the games, alright? You have to." Waverly told me. "And you have to bring it back to us. You _have_ to."

I smiled. They believed in me. "No prob." I put it on my neck. **(AN: What are the tokens your characters will be bringing into the arena? Put it into your review! Laur is bringing her necklace!)**

"Alright. That's all we can say." Quell told me. "We love you and hope to death you win. Alright? We can't lose you twice."

I flinched. They were referring to my twin.

I nodded bravely and the hurried out the door.

In walked someone else. It was my cousin. She was here for me! I haven't seen her in _ages!_

"Oh, hello, Laurie!" She said hugging me.

"Hi, Magdelaina!" I exclaimed, squeezing her back. She was my age. She was to turn seventeen ... _today!_

"You're going to win. I just wanted to let you know." She told me confidently and hugged me again.

"Thanks, Laina! And happy birthday! Here." I said, ripping off my bracelet and dropping it into her hands.

"But it's your-"

"Lucky charm. I know. Keep it."

It was a pure gold bracelet with '_Win forever. Love forever. Lucky charms are lovely. But my wearer is all more lovelier. Live, Laugh, Love.' _engraved on the inside part of it. It had diamonds and gemstones lining it. It was a gift from my grandmother. But, since she was also Laina's, I am giving it to her. Just so if I don't come back, it'll still be an heirloom.

"Love you!" She said, near tears, squeezing me to near death.

Tears escaped. "Love you, too, Laine."

And she let go, leaving me alone, and walked out.

* * *

**Review?**

**~Nikki**


	5. The Reapings Of The Other Tributes

**This is Chapter 1 of The 69th Hunger Games! May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor!**

**3. The Reapings Of The Other Tributes**

* * *

**District 2 Girl**

I walked back to my house, skipping merrily as I went. I stepped inside my house and dropped the canvas shopping on my father's leather couch.

"Ruby? Rube?" My mother called.

"In here, mom!" I called back, jogging into the kitchen and grabbing a plate. I grabbed some pita bread, cut it in half, stuffed tomatoes, lettuce and cheese in it and took a big huge bite out of it.

"Sweet? You have to get ready for the reapings. They're today."

And with that, I choked on my food.

"Sweetie!" My mother gasped, running over and she began striking me on the back with the base of her hand.

"I'm fine!" I managed out of my mouth.

She sighed.

I walked out, dressed in my pretty, icy blue sundress and silver flats. I was gorgeous. Well, at least that's what they tell me.

"Ruby!" My best friend, Calista called out.

I smiled and ran towards her, "Hey Calle!"

She groaned. "It's _Lista_. That's my nickname. I am officially _done_with Calle. Now, it's Lista."

"Alright." I grinned mischievously, "List."

She seethed. "Why do I even bother?"

I threw my head back and laughed.

"I love your hair!" Calista admired.

I smiled. I had long, waist-length wavy blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes. I am also very tall. Abnormally tall. I look the height of a sixteen year old, although I'm only fourteen.

We rushed over and stood in our spots. Our purple-haired announcer stepped up merrily and chattered on about everything. She just _loved_ sending kids to their impending doom. I waited, tapping my foot for her to announce.

"Ladies first!" She squealed. I rolled my eyes. What a dork.

She walked over to the girls' ball and spun it. She reached in, picked out a name and waited to read it.

My heart was building, my stomach was seizing. I waited for her to read it. And then she did. And my heart fell.

It was Ruby Zershmeide.

* * *

**District 2 Boy**

I threw my head back and laughed. Ruby. What a joke! She couldn't fight for her life! Then the announcer walked over to the boys' ball, reached in, pulled a slab of paper out and read it. My heart dropped. Nah, I'm just kidding. I, Jax Urgene, do not let my heart drop. I'm an anticipater. And I'm anticipating what's next.

"Any volunteers for either of these two? Any?" She asked the crowd of kids.

I jumped up, "_I'll_ volunteer for the guy."

"Oh, great! What a handsome young man! Won't he make for a great winner, folks? Or how about this cute little thing right here? Ruby?"

I glanced, smirking as I went, over at Ruby. Her face showed nothing but disbelief. As if she wanted to march up to the announcer and scream into her ears, '_Little? Do I _look_ freaking _little_?'_

The mayor walked up and said the Treaty of Treason, blah, blah, boring stuff, and then the peacekeepers took us into custody, rushing us into the Justice Building.

* * *

**District 3 Girl**

I walked with my best friends, Demonassa, Abbie, Marley and Jenna to the reaping.

"Selena, is your hair really natural?" Abbie asked me.

I nodded. She was referring to my long, dark hair and natural red highlights. I also had icy blue eyes and pale skin. I had on a knee-length sky-blue dress with black flats and a small, thin black headband.

"So, I can't wait for the end of the reapings! Then we can all go out and _celebrate! _Woo!" Jenna said, throwing her hands in the air.

"Ah, not so fast, Jen. We still might get picked." Marley said.

Jenna sighed. "Well I re_fuse_to get picked. Alright? Now I won't get picked! Yay!"

I rolled my eyes.

"C'mon, you guys, let's say that we absolutely _refuse_ to get picked." She urged.

I rolled my eyes again as they all said they '_refused'_ to get picked. I didn't join in. I _'refused'_ to.

"Did you all say it? So we can celebrate?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah," I lied.

Everyone else agreed.

We stepped up on the platform. We all stood side by side, awaiting our impending doom.

The blue-haired announcer stepped up and talked. She chatted on and on and on and on perkily. I rolled my eyes and droned her out.

She walked over to the girls' ball and pulled out a name. She read it.

I rolled my eyes, still not listening. I felt Abbie tugging on my arm. More like trying to rip it off.

"WHAT?" I exploded.

"Sh-she picked you." She said, tears filling her eyes.

"What?" I whispered.

* * *

**District 3 Boy**

Oh ... poor Selena. NOT! She could be part of my winning plan, though if I'm chosen. The announcer said my name. I smiled. Perfect. It's all planned. I'll flirt, break her heart and kill her. Perfect.

I stepped up next to Selena. The announcer droned on and on about how cute we were, yada yada, and chit-chattered all blah, blah. It was annoying. Then, Selena and I, Demitri Getlyn, shook hands.

When I smiled at her, she turned apple red. It only made me smile wider.

* * *

**District 4 Girl**

I walked to the reaping happily with my little sister, Miralou. I could not _wait_until the reapings ended and we could celebrate once again at Gino's Grill. It was a funrestaurant for parties after the reaping for the safe kids and their families. I went there with Miralou last year. Miralou is twelve this year and I'm thirteen. I could not wait for the party!

We stepped onto the platform along with the other kids and waited.

The lime green-haired announcer blabbered on and on about the games and how _great_ they'd be.

And the announcer picked the girls' names. And she said it. She said the thing I feared the most. She said my name. She said, "Julia Gallagher."

And I nearly collapsed. Nearly. And that would always, _always_ make all the difference.

* * *

**District 4 Boy**

Julia. Hm. She's cute. I've heard she's really kinda sweet. I am still not sure if she likes me or not. I asked my friends to see what they thought of her and to see what she thought of me. They all laughed.

"Darren's got a thing for Julia." They'd said.

I'd just rolled my eyes.

But then when Markanine(The announcer) announced my name, and everything switched perspective. I was facing off with the girl I lov-I mean _liked_. Tee-hee.

* * *

**District 5 Girl**

I walked up to the platform by myself. Today was the day. The day I volunteer. I, Violet Rose, will volunteer my life into the Hunger Games. It was suicide, yes, but I didn't care. My boyfriend died in them. But then Marcus walked up to me.

"Hey, Marc!" I said, hugging him.

"Hey, Vi, what's up?"

"Just waiting for the reaping to begin. What time is it?"

"One fifty-nine. So we got one minute. How are you?" He asked.

I laughed, "Great, just great. I'm volunteering, you know."

He froze. "What?" He whispered.

Just then, the big bell in the clock tower chimed. Show time.

"See ya in the Justice Building!" I said and hugged him and kissed his cheek.

I walked up to the platform happily.

The announcer chose the girl. Her name was Parantha. She was one of my friends. Good, I was getting her out of this.

My hand shot up and I yelled, "I'll volunteer, Narnie!"

Narnie, the announcer, smiled brightly, "Great! Parantha, this is good. Since you have a bad knee, your friend'll step in for you! Good, now don't worry. Who's this young lady?"

"I'm Violet Rose." I told her and smiled widely.

* * *

**District 5 Boy**

Violet volunteered? Really? Wow. That was _incredibly_ surprising. A suicide mission? Probably.

But then Narnie called my name.

"Salem Felding."

* * *

**District 6 Girl**

I admired my beautiful reb nails! They were buwtiful! I love reb! Reb, reb, reb! Reb is my favorite color! **(AN: I did that on purpose. I'll mispell things on purpose in District 6's girl's POV. She's stupid! It's funny!)**

"Hey, Pansy!" My best friend said, running up to me. "Did you hear, like, about, like, the, like, reaping today? I heard it was, like, supposed to be, like, the _best _year."

I smiled my big, _hot_ smile and nodded, my head bouncing up and down, hitting my chest and flying all the way back so I could see behind me repeatedly.

"Where's my _hot_boyfriend?" Kurliea asked.

"Where's mine?" I asked her.

"Wait, I think they're at the platform."

I nodded at Kurliea and we ran to the reaping platform.

"Hey, Pans!" My boyfriend whatever-his-name-is said.

"Hey ... hey!" I smiled and kissed him.

"Kurliea and me was just conin' to fine you!" I exclaimed.

"Cool, Pan." He smiled and kissed me again.

Then, the big, loud, clangy thingy rangs and we all gathered on the platform. We waited as the announcer said some stuffs and then she called my name for something.

"Pansy Grachiallo!"

I skipped up to her. "What is you wants?"

She held back a laugh. "Yeah, uh, you're in the Games."

"Ooh! Do I get to jump in a sack?" I asked, anticipating it.

She laughed this time, "Uh, no. You're in the Hunger Games. You know, where you fight to the death?"

"Yay!"

* * *

**District 6 Boy**

I stared in disbelief at the scene before me. Wow. Is this a joke? Where are the cameras? Pansy is a ... just, _wow._ This must be a joke. She'd die within a second of being in the games. I'd kill her myself if I wanted to. And she'd be so fun to kill.

But just then, I knew my destiny would come to me. Because the announcer announced my name.

"Raolf Wryburn!"

* * *

**District 7 Girl**

I put on Laurel's dress. I sighed. My dead sister's dress. I walked past a body-length mirror and glanced at myself. Suddenly, I got furious, whipped out my knife from it's hiding spot (strapped to my leg) and flung it at the mirror. It shattered.

I stormed out of the dusty tree-hut I called my home and into the daylight.

"Ace?" A voice called.

I angrily spun around, ready to hit the person who dare call me when I'm in such a state of anger. But I saw Charlie and my opinions softened. I sighed.

"What do you want, Charlie?"

"Going to the reaping?" He asked, catching up alongside me as I began walking.

I nodded. "I hate these. I can_not_believe my sister died a few years back. It's so un_fair!_" I stomped on the ground like a five year old who can't get their way.

He half-smiled. "I'm sorry. My little brother was killed last summer in it. And my father was killed in a tree-cutting accident a year before. And my mother was murdered with an axe. So I know how you feel. Your family's dead, my family's dead."

I nodded and half-smiled with him, "Thanks a lot, Char. This stuff really means a lot to me."

He smiled all the way and sort of, awkwardly, half-hugged me with his right arm.

I laughed. "You're not too good at gushy feelings, are ya Char? Let's just get to the reaping." I laughed again and tugged on his arm towards the reaping wooden platform made from live trees.

We waited for the announcer to finally shut up and when she did, a name was called. It wasn't my name. But it was my best friend's. Kylie's name was called.

She timidly walked up, staring at her feet. My heart felt like it was on fire.

Without thinking, I shouted, "I volunteer in her place!"

Everyone gasped, all attention turning to me.

* * *

**District 7 Boy**

I gasped, wondering why in the _heck_ Ace would do that. But whatever. Kylie _was_my girlfriend and now, I am eternally greatful. But Ace was also Kylie's best friend. Agh, whatever.

The announcer picked a name out of the boys' ball. And guess who's name that just _had_ to happen to be?

Mine.

"Christopher James!"

* * *

**District 8 Girl**

I sighed with my small little girl's dress fit for an eight year old. Because that's what size I was. A size fit for an ten year old. I sighed. For God's sake, I was _fourteen!_ Not ten.

"Cotton! Off to the reapings you go!" My mother, Cashmere ordered.

I sighed and walked out the front door, running to the platform of reaping. I stepped up to stand next to Lilly, my best friend and together we waited, listening to Kalilah(District Eight's announcer) to finish up. When she finally did, she, in her peppy way that only announcers can pull off, bounced her way over to the girls' ball, spun it and picked the name. What was the names she picked, you ask? Well I'm pretty sure, I'd be sooo thankful if I heard her wrong but, I'm pretty sure she said my name.

"Cotton Weaver!"

* * *

**District 8 Boy**

I looked at the little Cotton. Poor her. She was so tiny. Too bad she's gonna die.

And too bad I'm gonna die, too. Because out of the boys' ball, Kalilah picked my name.

"Eli Ghiorzi!"

* * *

**District 9 Girl**

I was standing quietly on the platform as Mirettnawalked over to the girls' ball. She spun it and picked out a name.

I sighed quietly. I examined my short figure. How unlucky would it be for me to enter the Hunger Games? I am short as can be, have blue eyes and blonde hair. I'm a nuggerin' freaker! Translation from my language into yours: I'm a freaking weirdo to everyone!

"And the girl from District Nine will be ..."

I shut my eyes, shaking my head.

"Thailey Horonsm!"

I broke down, crying.

* * *

**District 9 Boy**

I walked my way to the platform. Before I got up there, this kid, JumbliensonI think his name is (what a stupid name), bumped into me. So, naturally, I beat him up. He was coughing blood by the time I was finished with him.

When I got to the platform, I stepped up and the announcer announced the weird girl, Thailey, and she started crying. What a freak! And did she notice the huge bubble of space was left around her. Everyone was keeping at least a yard's distance from her. Like they all had a restraining order! Ha! As if! More like, if _she_ got the restraining order!

But then my name was called.

"Egor Greenwald!"

I smiled mischievously.

* * *

**District 10 Girl**

I kissed my boyfriend one last time and we stepped up onto the platform. He stepped onto the guys' side, me on the girls' side, our hands still connected.

"Hailie!" My sister squealed as she took my hand. "After the reaping, can we get some ice cream? It'll cost approximately six, sixty-eight if Kane, you and me eat!"

I ruffled her little strawberry blonde hair, much like mine and squeezed her hand.

The announcer talked and talked and I listened attentively. Then she spun the girls' ball and picked a name out.

And guess what?

It was my name.

"Hailie Vernon!"

* * *

**District 10 Boy**

I watched, surprised as a crying Hailie walked up, her angry boyfriend and wailing little sister followed. I realized something. This girl had a life. And now she was going to die for it. She was one of the most sweetest girls in our District. And now, the only non-trashy-jerky girl here was going to die. Too bad I don't care!

"And the boy is ..."

I hope it's me, I hope it's me. I chanted that repeatedly over and over again in my head.

"Rian Bulgoze!"

I pounded my fist into the air triumphantly, "YES!"

* * *

**District 11 Girl**

I smiled at Rue, who had just fallen asleep on my lap. It just a midday nap in the meadow behind our house. I'm still singing to her even though she is now asleep.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow  
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow  
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes  
And when again they open, the sun will rise

Here it's safe, here it's warm  
Here the daisies guard you from every harm  
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true  
Here is the place where I love you.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away  
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray  
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay  
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away

Here it's safe, here it's warm  
Here the daisies guard you from every harm  
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true  
Here is the place where I love you."

I laughed merrily at my little sister, Rue. She was so cute! One day, she'd grow up to be big and strong. She's so small now. Little did I know that she wasn't. Little did I know she was going to die in five years.

I got up and carried her inside to her canvas hammock and laid her to rest in it. I hurried into my room, changed into my reaping dress and hurried outside to the main area. I hurried on to the platform and took my spot beside my best friend.

Then the super annoying announcer announced some stuff, spun the girls' ball and reached in, pulled out a name and read it.

There were tons of muted gasps.

I froze. Wait, what did she say? _Who's_ name did she just call?

She repeated, "Uh, is Piper Autumn out there?"

* * *

**District 11 Boy**

I stared at Piper as she stepped forward. Oh, Rue's not gonna be so happy about this.

The announcer high-fived Piper and Piper restrained from punching her. The announcer said, "Alrighty then! Onto the boys!"

She walked over to the boys' ball, spun it and pulled out a name.

"Taftan LaRue!"

* * *

**District 12 Girl**

"Johanna, do you ever think about getting married?" My friend Micah asked me.

"I'm _fifteen_, Micah." I replied.

Micah, sits up. "Well, I am too." He countered

"Well, we're a bit young for that." I assured him, sitting up next to him. We'd been previously laying in the sun, waiting until we had to go to the reapings.

"So, Johanna! I could give you world!"

"Not in the seam, you can't." I told him.

"Well _I_ can. Alright, Johanna? Don't bail out on me. Listen."

I shook my head. "No way, Micah. Not now. I'm too young."

He sighed, pulled me to my feet and took my two hands. "I love you alright, Johanna? Now will you marry me? And run away with me?"

I shook my head, "You're crazy! We'd be turned into Avoxes! God, you idiot! And you're my frie-"

"Not anymore. I love you."

I sighed, "Well-"

"When we turn nineteen, then! And then we won't have to worry about the games!"

I smiled. "I promise to marry you the day I turn nineteen. But no kids. I refuse to put them through this. Now I need to leave for the reapings."

I kissed him and ran into the village, dressed in my best reaping clothes, which were just glorified rags. I stepped up on the platform, awaiting the reaping's ending.

Effie Trinket reached into the girls' ball. I had been late. I missed the whole opening part and the whole ball spinning thing. I was just in time. Because ... well ... I'll just let Effie Trinket's words clear this up for ya.

"And our District Twelve tribute will be ... Johanna Drake!"

"NO!" Micah roared.

* * *

**District 12 Boy**

I smiled brightly. I was eighteen since yesterday. I loved these games. My pregnant girlfriend didn't. She hated me for it. Our child was on the way. I couldn't wait to meet him/her!

Effie spun the boys' ball. She picked a name out.

"And the District Twelve boy tribute is ... Bret Wiley!"

My hearrt dropped, then rose.

There was a good thing and a bad thing to this.

Good: I WAS GONNA BE IN THE HUNGER GAMES! YAY I LOVE THE HUNGER GAMES!

Bad: My baby was on the way. And if I lost, then I'd never see him/her. I had a really bad and big decision to make.

* * *

**Alright. So I have a few things to say.**

**We are going to start the Sponsor's Program. Alright? Lemme explain!**

**You put in your review whether or not you want to be a sponsor that participates in giving the tributes money for stuff.**

**You tell me if you want to be a girl or a guy. I'll send you in a random person profile and tell you who you are. The only thing you can pick is the Female or Male aspect.**

**You'll get a PM with your sponsor's bio on it and you'll 'be' that sponsor. After every chap, you can write how much money you want to give what tribute for what item.**

**Alright? Get as MANY people as you can to do this! Thanks!**

**REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**


	6. The Trip To The Capitol

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**4. The Trip To The Capitol**

* * *

I stepped into the train with Sky and we finally met our mentor. She was a _legend. _She won six years ago. Her name is Seleste. She was tall, and pure barbie-doll material. She was beatiful. Her face was a clean and clear white, she had blood red lips, beautiful chocolate brown eyes and wavy light blonde hair that stopped at her waist. She was wearing blood red lipstick, dark, midnight black eyeliner and dark, midnight black mascara. She was wearing a white tank top with a shiny bronze jacket that cut off where the ribcage ended. The jacket had sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a pair of black wedges.

She was tall and slim as can be. She looked like one of those supermodels that lived in the Capitol.

"Hello, tributes. I am Seleste, your mentor. I am very pleased to meet you." She said, sticking out both her hands towards each of us.

I shook one and Sky shook the other.

"Hi, I'm Laurette. So, Seleste, what knowledge can you share with us about your Hunger Games?" I asked.

She smiled, "I was fifteen. I am now twenty-one, but that's aside the point. I had everything. The rest of the Careers had been killed off. I had the whole stash of supplied and it was down to me, and Elvinero Veldez from District Nine. He came up to me, sword in hand. But oh, I was ready for him and that. I'd quickly swooped down and grabbed my pair of daggers. He took one step closer to me and I threw a dagger into a spiral. It flew and hit Elvinero in the arm. I ran up to the boy on the ground and plunged him right in the heart. And then I won. That's it."

"Well," Sky said, "I am Sky and I'd like to know a few things."

She shook her head. "No time. It's time to watch the recap of the reapings. Alright?"

We nodded, anticipating seeing what happened to everyone else and _who_ everyone else was.

We both sat down on the fuzzy couch and Sky turned on the TV. We saw me faint, Sky and I shake hands, yada, yada. But then we saw the tall, District Two girl. I heard her name was Ruby. At least, that's what I caught. Then a boy got called up. The District Two tributes shook hands. Next were the District Three tributes.

The girl was picked and her eyes filled with tears as she blindly and shakily stepped next to District Two's announcer. She shook her hand and picked the guy. This next part just _disgusted_ me. The guy _smiled_ when he was picked. My eyes filled with fury and I immediately wanted to shove a spear down his throat. Uh-oh. There's my over-protective sadistic side. You don't want to get on that side.

The District Four people were up next. The girl from District Four's face turned ghost white and she wobbled stiffly on her knees. She got up and walked over to district four's announcer. The announcer spun, picked and announced a name. The boy's face fell and he stepped up and took a good look at the girl.

It then switched to District Five. The girl from this district was picked and limped weakly up. Just then, a girl volunteered in her place. The girl happily skipped up and took the other girl's place. This girl just disgusted me. The next guy was just picked. He walked up happily and shook Violet's hand.

It faded to District Six and it went to the girl. She skipped up happily and asked one of the _stupidest_ question ever. The announcer shook her head and told her something. The girl bounced up and down saying, 'Yay'. The boy was just picked. He smiled and stepped up and shook the girl's hand.

The district switched to seven. A girl shyly walked up and then a volunteerer volunteered in her place. The next boy was chosen and he sadly walked up. I heard a girl crying in the background and the camera turned to her. It was the girl who was volunteered out. She was crying. Hm. It must've been her boyfriend.

The next district was eight. The two district tributes were chosen and nothing exciting really ever happened.

It switched onto District Nine. The girl broke down crying and the guy was smiling mischievously.

The next district was District Ten. The girl was chosen and there was screaming 'No's' everywhere and crying and blah, blah, blah. The boy pouneded his fist into the air saying, 'Yes!'

District Eleven was next. The girl's name had to be repeated a few times. Then she got it and walked strongly up to the announcer, shook hands and then the guy's name was called. He walked shakily up to the announcer and they shook hands.

The last was District Twelve. The girl was picked and a guy screamed 'NO!' Then she, holding back tears as she went, stood up next to the announcer. The next was the guy. He was picked and the camera leveled in on his face. He smiled, but then it faded. He wasn't too happy about it but he was. He was crossed between decisions as it looked.

The camera switched off and we walked into a room with a table and food set out. I sat at one head, Sky at the other, Peggy in the middle, two chairs separating her from each of us and Seleste did the same. We ate, talked and went on about what is to happen in the Capitol.

When we finished, Seleste sent us off to bed. Before we went into our separate rooms, Sky and I had a little conversation.

"Hey," He said.

"What do _you_ want?" I asked harshly.

He stared at me, "Someone's got a little tude. Go rest up and be all ready with a good attitude for me in the morning. Alright?"

I stared at him for a few seconds, took one of his hands and leaned in. He leaned down and at the last second, I jerked away and my hand shot up to slap him.

"OW!" He yelled and stumbled backwards.

I laughed, "That's what you get for treating girls like that." And I wakled in my room, slamming the door behind me.

* * *

**READ THIS! IT'LL BE POSTED AT THE END OF EVERY CHAP FOR A WHILE!:**

**Alright. So I have a few things to say.**

**We are going to start the Sponsor's Program. Alright? Lemme explain!**

**You put in your review whether or not you want to be a sponsor that participates in giving the tributes money for stuff.**

**You tell me if you want to be a girl or a guy. I'll send you in a random person profile and tell you who you are. The only thing you can pick is the Female or Male aspect.**

**You'll get a PM with your sponsor's bio on it and you'll 'be' that sponsor. After every chap, you can write how much money you want to give what tribute for what item.**

**Alright? Get as MANY people as you can to do this! Thanks!**

**REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**


	7. The Arrival In The Capitol

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games! P.S. I'm SOO sorry for the late/sucky chapter! It deleted the WHOLE thing on me when I was trying to update it! I HATE MY LIFE!**

**5. The Arrival In The Capitol**

* * *

I rolled over in the bed, feeling the light on my face. I groaned loudly and sat up in bed. In case ya haven't noticed, I'm not a morning person.

There was a slight rapping on the door. "Get dressed in the gown hung on the hanger by your closet. Then get dressed and then do your makeup and hair. Alright?" Seleste asked.

"Sure, whatever." I muttered.

I hopped out of bed, got dressed in the dress that was hung on the hanger. It was a light blue halter dress that flowed down to my knees in ocean-like waves. I walked over to the vanity and curled my gold/light brown/red-strand-filled hair.

See, in the light my hair looks gold with dark blonde natural streaks. In the dark, it looks light brown with regular-colored blonde streaks. The red strands are nearly unseeable. I'd have to look very, very closely to see them.

Next, I applied my eye makeup, powder and lipstick. After that, I took my abundant, luscious curls and pushed them all over one shoulder. I adjusted everything to look perfect. When I finished, I swiftly walked out the door and went to eat.

I only picked the healthy, non-carby/calorie-filled things. I wanted to stay perfectly fit for this. So, basically, all I ate was an apple and a slice of watermelon. I sat gloomily at the table, awaiting the train to stop. When it finally did, I raced over to the crome-plated door and the sign above dinged and glowed. It read, _'Welcome to the Capitol in the wonderful land of Panem!'_ How sappy? What ole sap put that freaking sign up? _'Wonderful'_ is _not_ a word I'd use to describe the Capitol. _'Horrendous', _maybe. Or even, _'cruel'._ But not wonderful. That's the complete opposite.

The door slid open and all of a sudden, we were blinded by excited Capitol people's flashing cameras. I shaded my eyes and immediately, Peggy grabbed both mine and Sky's arms and hurried us into the big, tall Capitol Building. She rushed us into an elevator and ... then it started. We shot upward as fast as light. All four of us, me, Sky, Seleste and Peggy ending up on the ground. I couldn't even imagine going freaking _downward!_

When it stopped, I happily jumped to my feet, surprised to be overcome by dizziness. I wobbled on my feet and a hand behind me steadied me. I spun around and saw Sky pulling his hand back. He was looking away from me.

Seleste and Peggy herded us out of the elevator and into a large, beautiful room. They led us through it and into a hallway.

"Okay," Peggy said, "Seleste will direct you from here. See you at dinner!" And she walked away.

I exhaled happily, "_Finally."_ I said.

Seleste rolled her eyes, "C'mon, guys, she's not _that_ bad." But then her gaze lingered on the grown woman skipping down back to the elevator and she said, "Eh, oh, she makes it really hard to defend her. But anyways, every announcer is like that. Almost. Any_who_, Sky, go in that room there and Laurette in the other. Alright? Got it?"

We both nodded in unison.

I walked into my room and shut the door behind me.

"So you must be the legendary Laurette?" A voice said from behind me.

I spun around, coming face to face with a tall, slightly plump stylist.

She stuck out her hand, "Lia, assistant to the head stylist."

I took her hand hesitantly and replied, "Laurette. Hunger Games tribute. District One. I'm pleased to meet you." I said politely.

She giggled, "Why aren't you a beautiful, nice little thing!"

I nodded awkwardly, turning apple red.

"Now, we should get right to Belice. She's been anticipating your arrival."

The woman led me further into the room, behind a bunch of red velvet curtains. She brought me behind them and I looked around, surprised. It wasn't red velvet curtains inside. It was mirrors. Right to left, side to side. Mirrors everywhere I looked. Even on the floors and the ceilings. This was certainly odd. I'd never heard of this before.

In seconds, there were people poking me and prodding me, stripping me down and examining me like some show horse. I stood there, embarrassed.

"Finally." A voice said from behind me. I whirled, just then remembering I didn't have to, considering the mirrors. "A tribute worthy of me."

I saw her. She was beautiful, that wasn't hard to point out. It was _beyond_ noticable. She's like, stick-out-in-a-crowd-of-fifty-kajillion-people beautiful. Too beautiful. It kind of sickened me just to look at her. She had long, wavy black hair, down to her middle thighs. She had a perfectly shaped, perfectly tan, clear face. She had perfect, sparkly, shiny emerald green eyes and was tall and slim as Seleste even was. In a beauty contest, Seleste didn't even stand a chance. Which was saying _a lot._

I stood there, waiting. "Excuse me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She put her hands up, "Sorry. Just saying. You're quite pretty. You'll be quite fun to work with."

I raised my eyebrow higher, "And you get a say in this whole system, _how?_"

She shrugged, "It's quite easy to pick. I just bribe the president."

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay," she clapped her hands, "Time to begin! Chariot costumes at the ready?"

Everyone in the stylist team nodded happily and giddily, ready to send me off to my death in a butt-ugly costume. But, oh, was I wrong about the ugly part. It was completely the opposite. When they'd finished dressing me, I realized that the outfit was beautiful. Sheer beauty.

It was a shimmering gold dress, made of circles of gold-colored mirrors. We made them in our district. They were gold mirrors that you could see yourself perfectly out of, no problem. The only problem with the epic-fail product is that when you looked into it, you looked gold. Ha-ha. Anyways, they were small circles, cut perfectly from the mirrors, attached by a gold, shiny, one-inch string to the gold dress. The dress was perfect. It was a gold, shiny halter dress, fitted perfectly, going down to my knees. My shoes were pure gold, not kidding, shiny and beautiful.

"Although I like you," Belice continued, "I cannot keep you the whole time. Us stylists are going to try something new this year, and this year only. We are going to switch around and around every costume." She explained and then turned to Lia, "Give her the tiara."

Lia came over and placed a delicately small tiara on top of my head. They rest of the team and Belice led me over to a wall. Belice took out a little black box with a red button on it. She pressed it and out of the mirror-wall came a vanity, makeup and the like included.

They pushed me down into the wooden stool, tore open the drawers and grabbed tons of different hair products. Lia gestured to the tiara for me to comment on.

"Uh ... it's ... it's beautiful, Lia."

She broke out into a big, beautiful smile and tore it out of my hair, yanking some hair with it.

"Agh!"

"Sorry!" She appologized.

"Lia!" Belice snapped.

Lia put her hands up, the tiara intertwined between her fingers, backing up.

Belice sighed and took the sparkly stuff from another stylist, Eelee, I think his name was. Anyways, she took the spray-sparkly stuff and sprayed it all throughout my hair. In moments, my hair was glittering in the shining lights of the mirror-room. Belice took a brush and gently combed through my hair, making it look as perfect as possible. After that, she snapped her fingers and the prep team instantaneously grabbed the things to recurl my hair.

After about five minutes of fussing, hair yanking, etcetera, my hair was finally adorned with curls and gold sparkles. I slipped into my solid gold heels and _that's_ when exactly we ran into _the problem._ I couldn't walk in them. And when I did, I'd have to shuffle my feet quickly and even _then,_ I couldn't get four _centimeters_ withing a minute. And sometimes I tripped. Don't wanna go into further explanation for _that_.

"She's uncoordinated. Fix her." Belice snapped unhappily.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean!" I yelled, stunned to the point of death with her idiotic thinking standards.

"It _means_ that you can't move your feet for your life. Alright?"

I clenched my fists. "Alright. I'm going shoeless. Screw _you._" And I walked out, shoeless.

When I reached the door, I heard a man's voice call out to me.

"Are you Laurette?"

I whirled around, "_Yes,_ yes it freaking is! You gotta problem with that?" I asked harshly.

He shook his head. "You're with Belice, my partner stylist. I'm with your friend right now. Oh, you're quite pretty. But ... where are your shoes?"

I seethed, "There in _there_ with _that_." I said, pointing to the curtains and referring to Belice.

"What were they?" He asked, rushing up. "We're competing for the best shoes. What were they?" His voice was urgent, his eyes wide, like that of a curious child's.

I spoke the next words slowly. "You just won. They were made of gold. Alrighty?"

He did a little happy dance and pounded his fist into the air, "YES! I won, ooh, ooh!" He sang, dancing.

I rolled my eyes and attempted to leave but I was stopped by a voice yelling, "How's this Vladmir?"

It was Sky.

I inhaled deeply and turned around. My breath caught in my throat. He was breath taking. He was wearing a gold prince-like poofy shirt. It was made of the same stuff as my dress. His gold hair was in beautiful, messy waves down in his eyes. He was wearing plain black pants and shiny, gold shoes made of _non-_gold material. They were just regular guy-dress shoes. Normal. Gold, shiny, etc.

He stared at me, speechless.

"I, uh, gotta go see Peggy. See ya'll at the chariot ... thingy." I said, almost at loss for words as I stumbled out of the room.

"LAURETTE!" Peggy's voice echoed throughout the large corridoor.

"What?" I asked, exasperated.

"WHERE HAVE YOU _BEEN?_ We were to rehearse, you and Sky, for the big chariot thing _ten minutes ago!_" She yelled.

I rolled my eyes.

She checked her watch. "Oopsie. Never mind. See ya for the rehearsal in three hours!" And she was gone in two seconds flat.

I rolled my eyes and walked swiftly back into the curtain room. I grabbed my tiara from a stunned Lia and stormed out. I plopped down on a chair outside and sighed heavily.

This was not my day.

* * *

**I NEED to say something. PLEASE go onto youtube and check out Lindsey J Lee's Profile! She is one of the BEST singers I've ever heard! I LOVE her voice! Check her out! She does TONS of covers AND her own music. ALSO check out on iTunes, her original song! I'm going to buy it! Check them all out! I'm listening to her cover of Breakeven right now and her voice is just ... wow. Her voice is BEAUTIFUL and crystal clear! Check it out!**

**READ THIS! IT'LL BE POSTED AT THE END OF EVERY CHAP FOR A WHILE!:**

**Alright. So I have a few things to say.**

**We are going to start the Sponsor's Program. Alright? Lemme explain!**

**You put in your review whether or not you want to be a sponsor that participates in giving the tributes money for stuff.**

**You tell me if you want to be a girl or a guy. I'll send you in a random person profile and tell you who you are. The only thing you can pick is the Female or Male aspect.**

**You'll get a PM with your sponsor's bio on it and you'll 'be' that sponsor. After every chap, you can PM me how much money you want to give what tribute for what item.**

**Alright? Get as MANY people as you can to do this! Thanks!**

**REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**


	8. Chariots

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games! I'm going right to the chariots now!**

**6. Chariots**

* * *

It was dark. I was freaking the heck out. This was not my thing. I don't go out in front of millions, wondering if I'd screw up and let millions watch it! IT'S JUST NOT SOMETHING I DO!

"Calm down, Laur." Sky rolled his eyes.

I snapped at him, "Well, ex_cuse_ me, mister I've-got-it-all-under-freaking-control!"

He held his hands up and backed off.

I grabbed my hair, attempting to pull it out by its roots.

"Uh-uh! Don't _touch_ the hair, young lady! I just perfected it!" Belice snapped, pulling my hand down.

Vladmir pushed Belice back. "You remember our little deal, Belle. _I_ get to tell them what to do because I won the shoe contest. Alright?"

She seethed and stormed off.

Vlad clapped his hands together, "Alright! Board the chariot and ready your beautiful gem-like selves!"

Our costumes were the same as yesterday. The shoes on mine were changed though, to gold-painted heels with gems on the straps. My dress was the same-gold-mirror-fied and shiny. Same with Sky's shirt. His pants were also black. The only difference was that Vlad added gold sparkles-every school girl's dream, right? Gold sparkles. Huh. They're some weird school girls.

My hair was done up the same way-curly and gold sparkly. Vlad asked the light people to shine the light on my head in a way such to make my hair look gold, matching the outfits and sparkles. I was wearing my tiara. It was a small, delicate, non-flashy thing. It was made of pure gold with one gold topaz gem in the middle and two small blue sapphire gems on either side.

Sky, on the other hand, was wearing nothing on his head. It was either nothing, or one of those big, gigantic crown thingies. We decided against the crown. We didn't want to get on President Snow's bad side, now did we?

We boarded the chariot without complaint and Vladmir told me over and over again, "Smile and wave. Wrist, wrist, elbow, elbow wave, alright? Remember, they _love_ you. Your district is their _favorite_. Alright?"

I cringed at the thought. Too much pressure. God, I was gonna screw up for sure now! Thanks a lot, Vladie boy! Ugh!

And the music started. Our gold-painted horses strolled forward at a moderate trot. They were trained so well, no one had to lead them! So it was just us, and the horses. Great.

The opening music blasted all around us and the huge, massive doors slid open, revealing all the people around us. As our horses begun, the crowd cheered as loud as bomb explosions. No, _louder_ than bomb explosions. They loved us.

I was stressed and overjoyed all at the same time, about the same thing! My hand shot over to Sky's wrist. He slid his hand up and slipped it into mine. I didn't once glance his way, threaten his life _or_ tear my hand away. It was a new record! Well, for the threatening life part, that is.

I looked around me, my eyes taking in millions of blobs of color at a time, unable to simply pinpoint one individual out of the trillions.

I took in a deep breath and held up my hand to wave as Vladmir had told me. I cocked his words back and forth in my mind.

_Smile and wave._ Check!_ Wrist, wrist, elbow, elbow wave, alright?_ Let's see ... wrist, then wrist, elbow to elbow, repeat over and over. Check! _Remember, they _love_ you. Your district is their _favorite._ Alright? _Hmm ... remembering? Check! Favoritism? Definite check. Alright? Sure, why not?

My waving suddenly sped up and a pure gold bangel on my wrist flew off and into the crowd. Millions of blobs dove to get it. Crap. My face took on a new color. Red. Awesome, right? Hint the sarcasm.

"Laurette! Sky! This way!" Voices called out from here and there, wanting pictures, waves, whatever they desired.

I beamed and waved slower, back to pace as Vladmir and Belice had taught me. Well, I'm sure Vlad is nice, and Belice is ... Belice, but still. I'd like to see what I get for my interview-costume stylist. It should be pretty good. I'd seen all the other districts' costumes. My favorite was District Eleven's. Their costumes were made purely of fresh autumn leaves, straw, beautiful flowers and wheat. They were beautiful, the specific colors ranging all around gold, yellow, red and orange, the colors of autumn. Beautiful.

My least favorite was District Twelve's. No offense to their district, or anything, but their stylists were out of control. So get this, their costumes ... they weren't costumes. They were completely naked, covered completely, head to toe, in coal dust. I couldn't _live_ if I was caught on camera like that. I'd kill myself before I'd had the chance to even ever put it on. Yet, here they were, smiling happily and merrily. Almost _too _happily and merrily. They looked too rehearsed. It looked almost ... overdone. Anyone could tell.

The horses finally pulled around into the City Circle, where they will play the anthem and, eventually escort us into the Training Center which will be our home until our certain and imminent death.

When we descended the horses, I was tired. I plastered on a fake smile and was escorted, as they played the anthem, of course, into the Training Center. They were doing this differently this year. Usually, they'd pull our chariots inside the Training Center _after_ the President talked and they anthem played. They were obviously on a tight schedule which, apparently, we were behind on.

Vladmir and Belice rush in and great us, along with our two prep teams. They tell us how great and fabulous we did at keeping up the district tradition of being favorites and they babbled on at top speed.

I sighed and slightly leaned my weight against Sky. He slowly slid his arm around me and supported my weight.

I was tired. Don't judge. If he'd tried _any_ of this funny business with me in teh arena, he'd be dead faster than he could pull his hand away. I have _mad_ skills at killing. Especially with my thumbs. Those are my killing little suckers, right there.

But right now, I'm sleep and tired. I just would like to leave. It's nearly midnight, a new day. And I've had a long one, at that. It's been nothing but training for this. And now that it's over, I couldn't be more overjoyed.

The prep teams and the two stylists say goodbye. They walk off, ready to face their next tribute.

I sighed and walked off towards the elevator, where Peggy was waiting. I was ready to sleep. A nice, long sleep. Happily. Of course, until I die.

* * *

**I NEED to say something. PLEASE go onto youtube and check out Lindsey J Lee's Profile! She is one of the BEST singers I've ever heard! I LOVE her voice! Check her out! She does TONS of covers AND her own music. ALSO check out on iTunes, her original song! I'm going to buy it! Check them all out! I'm listening to her cover of Breakeven right now and her voice is just ... wow. Her voice is BEAUTIFUL and crystal clear! Check it out!**

**READ THIS! IT'LL BE POSTED AT THE END OF EVERY CHAP FOR A WHILE!:**

**Alright. So I have a few things to say.**

**We are going to start the Sponsor's Program. Alright? Lemme explain!**

**You put in your review whether or not you want to be a sponsor that participates in giving the tributes money for stuff.**

**You tell me if you want to be a girl or a guy. I'll send you in a random person profile and tell you who you are. The only thing you can pick is the Female or Male aspect.**

**You'll get a PM with your sponsor's bio on it and you'll 'be' that sponsor. After every chap, you can PM me how much money you want to give what tribute for what item.**

**Alright? Get as MANY people as you can to do this! Thanks!**

**REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**


	9. Evaluation Scores

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**TRAINING EVALUATION SCORES!**

**District 1**

**Laurette: 9 (Daggers and Bow and Arrow)**

**Sky: 7 (Sword)**

**D2**

**Ruby: 6 (Bow and Arrow)**

**Jax: 10 (Spear)**

**D3**

**Selena: 8 (Bow and Arrow)**

**Demitri: 5 (Sword)**

**D4**

**Julia: 3 (Trident)**

**DK: 9 (Spear)**

**D5**

**Violet: 6 (Sword)**

**Salem: 8 (Crossbow)**

**D6**

**Pansy: 0 (Talking)**

**Raolf: 2 (Stabbing)**

**D7**

**Ace: 10 (Axes)**

**Christopher: 4 (Snares and Survival)**

**D8**

**Cotton: 5 (Dagger)**

**Eli: 7 (Hand-to-hand combat)**

**D9**

**Thailey: 2 (Screaming so loud, it breaks other's ear drums. It didn't go too well with them)**

**Egor: 8 (Swords)**

**D10**

**Hailie: 7 (Bow and Arrow)**

**Rian: 2 (Throwing Knives)**

**D11**

**Piper: 6 (Knives, climbing)**

**Taftan: 4 (Bow and Arrow)**

**D12**

**Johanna: 8 (Knife-Throwing and Swords)**

**Bret: 3 (Sword)**

**Those are the evaluation scores. I will update as soon as I finish the chap. HOPEFULLY TTTTWWWWOOOO Chaps will be up after today. Not including this one. So, two more!**


	10. Interviews

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**7. Interviews**

* * *

I drew in a deep breath as my new stylist fixed my hair. He was wonderful. His name was Alexander.

"Alright, now, you will do absolutely _wonderful,_ Laurette. You'll do great!" He urged.

"Well, y-yeah, b-b-but I'm first up. I-I don't know. I can't _talk_ in front of people. But I _loved_ your District Eleven costumes. The beautiful autumn leaf skirt and the straw and weat top of the dress. I loved it. And the guy's leaf suit. They mixed perfectly. But I can't do this."

"Oh, _quit_ sucking up!" He chided gently and, I am not exaggerating when I say, he _shoved_ me to my District One girl seat.

I stumbled on stage and saw the rest of them taking their spots. Sky was in the seat next to mine. I plopped down in my beautiful, yet _super_ tight dress. Alex told me that it 'showed off my curves'. When I sat in the seat next to Sky, he was staring at me, wide-eyed and astonished. He looked me up and down and his eyes stopped, in my little sister's words, 'the naughty place'. My chest.

"Eyes to your freakin' self, Sky." I said and slapped him smack across the face.

He just turned back forward in his chair, trying to avoid my eyes. I straightened up in my chair and the curtains opened, revealing Ceaser sitting on a recliner next to a wooden chair.

I nervously fingered my microphone that was attached to the low neck on my dress. My dress was shimmering silver with a striking light blue belt that brought out my eyes. My shoes were strappy and silver, the straps being light blue. The dress was beautiful ... but it was fit for a twelve year old. I'm almost seventeen.

The audience clapped for Ceaser. Ceaser gave a speech and called me up.

I took in a long, deep breath and stood up. I walked up to the chair and sat down. There were lots of 'woo's' throughout the audience. Sadly, I couldn't slap them.

"Wow, Laurette, I love your dress. It's _really_ pretty." Ceaser commented, his eyes wide.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't look. Don't make me slap you."

Lots of 'ooh's' rose up from the audience.

"That goes for all of you." I said, pointing to the crowd. "Oh, and I already slapped Sky."

They laughed.

"All right, Laurette! Are you excited for the games?"

I didn't hesitate. I'd already expected these questions and came up with the perfect suck ups to go with them.

"Yes! I cannot wait to compete! Although, I'd really rather not kill anyone. But I love, love, _love_ the Capitol! It is the _best_ place I have ever been in!"

There was a loud applause throughout the audience.

"Why, thank you!" Ceaser said happily, "Now what is your favorite thing about the Capitol?"

I loved this question. It was the _perfect_ suck up opportunity.

"The people. The _wonderful,_ amazingly amazing people! I love them!" I clapped my hands like some crazy overzealous girl.

Everyone hooted and cheered, whistled and applauded.

"Wonderful!" Ceaser clapped, "Isn't she just _wonderful?_"

Everyone cheered.

I beamed, "Thank you, Ceaser!"

Everyone cheered louder.

"What is your viewpoint angle on the Hunger Games?" He asked.

I sighed, expecting this one. I reluctantly answered anyway.

"Well, Ceaser, I just do _not_ think it is fair _at all_. Because, what is the fun in taking _children_ from their loving and very happy families, and putting them into an arena to kill each other? How is that fair, exactly? To ruin your families to make them _very_ miserable and kill them? How would _you_ feel if that ever happened to you?" I pushed hard for a tear to come out of my eyes. It worked. Perfect emotion. "Would you like it if someone took you to an arena to kill you or, even if they took your daughter or son and threw them into an arena to be killed? Would you like it? I wouldn't. I don't."

Everyone applauded.

I smiled and sat down from my spot where I had gotten up just moments ago without realizing it.

"That was excellently wonderful and emotional. Just great. And we have time for _one_ more question. Do you have a fellow back home? You're very pretty."

I rolled my eyes, "Eyes off, dude."

Everyone laughed.

I smiled, glad and relieved that I had obviously one over the crowd.

"Well, no. Not really. Well ..."

"Well?" He prodded.

"There is this _one_ guy ... and he's just-"

The timer went off.

"And that's it for our time! I'm sorry. I wish you all could find out the mystery guy!" Ceaser wiggled his eyebrows.

I laughed, got up, curtsied polightly and walked back to my spot. Sky walked up.

Ceaser chattered on with Sky. Nothing unusual that stuck out really happened.

Then it switched to the other eleven districts. Districts Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve.

After he finished, he happily finished the night. The curtains closed, the bright lights were shut off and it was all over. Tomorrow, it was game time.

* * *

**Review?**

**~Nikki**


	11. The Games Part I: The Cornucopia

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**8. The Games Part I**

* * *

I was shaking. Haaaard. Scary hard. I was in my launch compartment. Alex just had me put on my games-wear. It was pre-made but Alex said he added some things.

When I posed for him, we laughed, talked and went on and on.

"So, I just made a _few_ tiny little adjustments to the jacket part. Want to know why the sleeves are so long, they go past your knuckles, rather than stopping at your wrist?"

I shook my head.

"Well, if you see the rungs on the part from the wrist to knuckles, you'll see that the rungs are tear-able. You can tear them off and they become small, semi-thick, hair bands. Like from the past, back in the twenty-first century when they wore them. Just make sure to make it look 'accidental' when you tear them. After they're torn, you tie them in your hair. It's not too hard to use. It's really simple to figure out.

"I added pockets. Also, inside them, there're extra lining. You tear the lining and it can become a hankerchief, or even something to patch up your wound in. It's super-absorbant, so it'll absorb your blood.

"There's also one more thing on there. It holds heat in and has a heater. It's in the extra inside pocket. If you want it to let heat out, such as on a hot day, then take the remote inside the inside pocket and press the labeled buttons. One lets heat out, one keeps heat in, one controls the heater and one controls the cooler. One can even change the suit's color to camoflauge it." He finished, smiling proudly at his modifications.

I nodded, "Isn't this illegal, though?"

He shook his head, "This year, the Capitol said that we could add whatever we wanted to the outfits. Got your token?" He asked.

I nodded, fingering my small silver heart necklace.

But when I took a step over, I cried out as my ankle rolled and fell to the ground.

"Are you all right?" He exclaimed.

I shook my head, tears falling uncontrollably. "I think it's broken."

He nodded, "I heard a crack. Which brings us to the braces." He said, running his finger along inside a drawer. "Ah! Bingo!" He ripped out a brace and carefully slid it onto my now-bare foot.

Afterward, I slid on my sock and my shoe and limped up to a standing position.

"Alright. Step into the launch pod." He said reluctantly, obviously sad that I'd just hurt myself and hurt my chances of ever winning this thing.

I did as he said, we waved goodbye and I was lowered into the arena.

I was frozen. I was terrified. I couldn't move.

And we were released.

In seconds, I had crossed over and placed my hands on a camping bag, I grabbed another and slung them over separate shoulders. I dove over to the bow and arrows, doing a somersalt in mid-air. When I landed, my ankle rolled and I cried out.

My head whipped backward and I saw a sword come down on my arm, creating a huge gash in the upper part. It was the District Two guy. A horrible Career.

I gritted my teeth and swept my feet around in a circle, to a crouching position. He cried out and flipped backwards. I grabbed the bow and arrow and slung it over my shoulder. I limp-ran out, deep, deep into the forest, away as far as I could get from that wretched Cornucopia.

When I was far enough away, I examined my surroundings. I saw what I saw. It was a forest-type. Over by the Cornucopia, it was probably the largest clearing expanse. One side of the clearing was blocked off by a _huge_ who-knows-how-high foot wall. It was stone. The Cornucopia itself was in the middle. It had hard, bumpy dirt ground, dried out and a horrible hazard for running across. There were tons of fifty-foot tall pine trees, even taller tree-trees and I could go on and on. But, basically, there was no light in here, except for the little tiny green-tinted light spots that shone through.

I climbed the tree as fast as I could and as best as I could, what with my ankle was slowing me down. When I reached the top, I straddled one of the bigger branches. I leaned up, back against the trunk of the tree and opened my first pack. It contained a sleeping bag, sunglasses, night glasses, a canteen, a lighter and a small food supply.

I pulled that one aside and grabbed the other one. It said, 'RANDOM' in big letters across the front. I opened the flap, uncovering daggers (Thank God!), more food (just a small supply, though), rope, some kind of ... plastic-y chest plate? A ... ring? And a large hankerchief-like thing.

I took the large hankercheif-like thing and wrapped my arm in it. I tied it and pressed down. I then grabbed the bigger bag and stuffed all of my stuff into it and ditched the random small bag. I burned it. Just so no one would take it.

I then fleed from my spot into another tree, about a mile ahead. I climbed about thirty feet up when I stopped on a big, sturdy branch. I wrapped my rope up in the tree, back and forth, and laid my sleeping bag across it. I tested my little makeshift bed by sticking my foot on top and pushing my weight on it. It was sturdy enough. I hopped on it, pulled the covers over me and closed my eyes.

Sometime after I drifted off, someone _touched_ me. I shrieked and rolled off, off the sleeping bag and jetted to the ground. But right, immediately after I had rolled off, someone grabbed my arm, yanking me upward towards them. They yanked too hard and I flew up, right on top of them.

I closed my eyes, cringing backwards. I was gonna die. This was it.

"Shh, shh, shh, Laur!" Someone hushed me, laying me down next to them.

I slowly opened my eyes to see Sky looking at me with incredibly worried eyes.

I closed my eyes tightly and sighed.

He pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me.

"What did you do to your ankle? And your arm?"

I shook my head. "Nothing." I muttered, pushing away.

He pulled me closer, not budging. "Shh. There's still something I have to give you before I leave."

I stiffened. He was leaving. He came to be a traitor and that's all I'll ever get.

"What?" I said, somewhat harshly.

He pulled me close, tipped my chin up, putting my face not a centimeter away from his. He leaned in and kissed me sweetly. He pulled me closer, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. I placed one hand on his chest and wrapped the other around his neck, my fingers knotting in his hair.

We went on like this for five minutes. He finally, reluctantly pulled away, a sad and regretful expression on his face. Without another word, he lifted himself onto the branch next to my sleeping bag. I scooted over to him and he kissed me goodbye, a sweet kiss.

"I have to leave. I asked the Careers if you could come, too, but they said that you couldn't because your hurt your ankle and now are a liability."

I pulled away and scooted back.

"No," he whispered, "Don't do that, Laurie."

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around my knees.

"C'mon, Laur. Please?"

I shook my head.

"Listen. Want to know my secret? The one that was in my interview? Well, I'm in love with you. Alright? I have loved you for a _long_ time. I even have my wallet as my token and a picture in it of you."

I pushed back, "STALKER! You're lying! Go! Get away from me!"

He bit his lip, leaned over and as his lips were only two inches away from mine, I whimpered and put my head down. He sighed sadly and kissed my temple. Then ... just like that ... he was gone.

I silently let a few tears drop. But then I gritted my teeth hard and clenched my fists. I growled fiercely and punched the tree trunk over and over again. Afterwards, I fell over, onto my sleeping bag, tears forming. I fought them off. I examined my stinging fists. They were blood red and gushing. I sighed, and tried to pull my hair out of its roots.

"Are you all right?" A voice asked, about ten feet above me.

I spun around, looking up and saw a tiny girl, her feet swinging from the branch. "Hey." She waved.

She had dark brown skin and eyes and was _super_ tiny. **(AN Sound like anybody yet?)** She looked like an eight year old. But she wasn't. I knew she wasn't. She was fourteen. I remember her reaping ... her interview ... her evaluation score ... everything.

"The Cornucopia _just_ ended. The bloodbath canon will start." She said.

Just then, the canon went off. One, two, three, four, five, six ... and a _super_ quiet last one. The others were nice and loud. But why would the seventh be quieter?

"So ... ally? Or no ally?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, all thought of that traitor Sky out of my head.

She smiled. "Ally. I'm Piper."

And she hopped down off the tree, onto the tree branch I was standing on.

"Great. I'm Laurette."

* * *

**Review?**

**~Nikki**

**PS Piper is Rue's older sister! Rue is seven right now.**


	12. The Games Part II: Another Addition

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**9. The Games Part II: Another Addition**

* * *

"So you grabbed two bags and burned the smaller one?" Piper asked incredulously the next day while I was practicing shooting with a new bow and arrow.

I nodded, "Had no choice. Either lug two space-taking bags around _with _my bow and arrows also on my back or ... burn it. I wasn't gonna leave it there. Why would I? To give someone else a storage thing? Not a chance." I told her as I hit a passing dove, clean in the eye. It dropped to the ground and I rushed up, retrieved my bloody arrow, wiped it off, and tossed the dove in my pack.

"I guess I can see where you're coming from. Just ... why'd you grab two if you weren't going to use them both anyway?"

"Why not? I mean, why should _I_ leave behind valuable things when I have the time to get them?"

She nodded, "I guess I can see that, too. And I can also see that you weren't planning on an ally, were you?"

I shook my head. "Not 'till you showed up. By the way, thanks for the apples."

She shook her head, "No, no! Thank _you_ for the freaking huge turkey! That was more than I had expected."

I shook my head again, "That turkey wasn't so big."

Her mouth dropped slack, wide open, "_Wasn't so big?_ Are you freaking _kidding_ me? It was so huge, it had its own freaking _zip code!_"

I threw my head back and laughed, "I'd shot it, did I not?"

She smiled and nodded, "You did. I just didn't know they put wild turkeys in here. We barely even see them around in District Eleven. Come to think of it, I'd only seen it once. And that was the first time _anyone_ there had seen it."

There was a crack, not forty yards away. I darted to my shot arrow, yanked it, bent, from the tree and reloaded my bow, shoving the bent one back into the quiver.

Piper had unsheathed the knife she took from a dead bloodbath member at the Cornucopia. She told me all about it. What she took-the stolen knife and a backpack, much like the smaller one of mine and what she did and saw. It was scary.

There's something weird about us. We travel through the night and sleep through the day. We switch it up a lot. We like the night. It's comforting and easier to travel. So, as you can guess, it's night.

The cracks sped up and somebody jumped out into our clearing. I let go of the arrow and it flung towards the person. They, unfortunately, dodged it and ran up, gripped my throat and squeezed tightly.

I choked and shrieked for Piper and Piper ran right up. She gripped her knife tightly and slashed the person's arm.

The person yelped and fell, dropping a choking me, to the ground.

"What the hell!" The vaguely familiar voice said. It was a girl's voice. But then, something from the interviews clicked and I knew exactly who she was.

_"So how do you feel about the games, Acacia?" Caesar asked as he leaned towards Ace who was smirking._

"My name is not Acacia!" Ace snapped with a sudden spurt of anger. "It's Ace and, honestly, this year will be a year I will never forget. It's the year I get my revenge on District Nine. " She replied, calming down and smiled at the camera.

"You want revenge on District Nine? May I ask why?" Caesar asked. Ace leaned in closer.

"Because they killed my sister!" She had roared angrily before leaning back in her chair calmly. "It was a year or two ago. Her name was Laurel and she was my only family. Now I have no one. I have nothing to lose only something to gain."

"I remember Laurel," Caesar said. "And you look so much like her. "

"Thank you," Ace replied coolly.

"Do you have anything else you'd like to say to the audience, Ace?" Caesar asked inquisitively.

"Just that I will get my revenge no matter what. Because I will make my sister proud. "

End of flashback. Acacia, or, more likely, Ace, was in the same predicament as me. Except she _had_ no family. I did. But my twin died, just as her older sister did. And we were both in this together. And right then, I knew _exactly_ what to do.

"Alright!" I hopped up, pulling Ace with me.

"You'll die, chick! You'll-"

But I shoved my hand over her mouth and said one word. "Ally?"

Her eyes narrowed, as with her eyebrows and she tore my hand off her mouth. "What's the catch, Career?"

"I was booted from the freaking Careers. Who needs 'em? I say, we make our _own_ ally group." I told her, my eyebrow raising, asking a silent question. _Wanna join?_ It was just screaming that at her.

She sighed, "Uh ... mmm ... hmm ... uh-ju-agh! Fine! Whatever! SURE!" She exploded.

I clapped my hands, "Great! I'm Laurette, that's Piper and you are Ace."

"My name's not Acaci-wait! Did you just say Ace?"

I nodded, "I know things." I answered the now-forming question on her lips.

She nodded.

"We should sleep." Ace said, begining to climb the nearest, sturdiest tree.

I shook my head, "One more thing. We sleep during day and travel at night. No questions. All right?"

She sighed, "Really? Fine. I'll end up getting more sleep that way tomorrow than I would now."

I nodded. "Where should we start? Just, head to the nearest water source or ..."

Piper shrieked. Ace and I whirled towards her and she was staring wide-eyed at my bandaged gash.

"I-it's dripping! It reopened, Laurie!"

My eyes shot open and I stared down at it. It was dripping _a lot._ Oh no.

Just then, a silver, small parachute floated its way down and landed at my feet. I opened it up and found a Middle Class first aid kit in it! Thank God!

I checked the sponsor tag, looking for a signature. And sure enough, there it was. Signed by Sicily Evergreene** (CloudyNK's assigned sponsor)**. She was the Capitol's freaking _senator!_ I checked the back side for a note. There it was! _From Senator Evergreene: Do well, Laurette. I'm all for you, Piper and Ace! Please, one of you, since this is all I can do, one of you please win! Great speech, Laurette. I've been thinking about your speech from the interview for a while. I wouldn't like it if my Christabelle was taken from me. Or, even if my husband Gavin was. Win! You and Ace are in the same problem. Fight through it! And I know that later on, Piper will be too! You three girls are strong enough to win this thing! So just get out there and do it! But fix up your arm first, Laurette. Oh, and was Sky the mystery guy? He kissed you. You looked like you liked it. Until he mentioned joining the Careers. If any of you win, I'd like very much to meet you after the games!_

I smiled, a small, tiny smile. She was cheering us on. Why, though?

But the real question was: How do I use it?

"What district are you from, Ace?"

"Seven." She answered, no hesitation.

Dang! No District Two!

"But I'm from District Two." A small, clear-as-a-bell voice spoke, emerging from the trees.

She was pretty. She had pale skin, waist-length wavy blonde hair and light blue eyes. She was tall. No question on that statement.

"State your name and business." I ordered harshly, raising my bow.

She laughed. Jeez, even on the verge of death she was optimistic. Weird.

"I'm Ruby Zershmiede and I'd like to join your little 'ally group'." She told me.

"What's the catch?" Ace asked. Again. She seemed to not trust anybody.

"District Two ... medicine ... wouldn't you like me to fix you guys up? Fix _her_ up?" She asked, gesturing to me.

I sighed, lowering my bow, ordering Piper to loosen her grip on her knife, for which she was posed to throw. Not a good idea. You need a proper throwing knife. But I had no doubt in my mind that she'd make it. She was excellent in that type of thing. Ace had nothing.

Just as that thought came out, down floated a silver parachute. Attached to it was an axe. Ace picked it up, read the note and smiled.

"Who's it from?" I asked, distracted.

"Nobody. Well, I _should_ say that it's not addressed from anybody." **(It's from me! You're welcome, Ace!) **She said.

I shrugged and went back to examining this 'Ruby' girl. If that was her real name.

Ace's smile grew wider as she gripped her axe and raised it. In seconds, her arms had come down on a rock, half her size and it chomped down on it. At first, it did nothing. But we waited ten seconds and the rock exploded!

Ace beamed. "Thanks whoever you are!" She whispered.

"Alright! Fine! Just join the freaking ally girl-freaking-power group or whatever the heck you wanna name it!" I snapped at Ruby.

She beamed, shrugged and sat me down on a nearby tree stump. She then began at work with my arm.

Then, abruptly, a bright holographic light flickered up in the sky. The anthem played and it showed the people and the districts who died at the bloodbath. I wonder why the pictures hadn't been shown yesterday, the day of the bloodbath.

Anyways, the pictures showed up ... both tributes from six ... the boy from District Eight ... the girl from District Nine ... the boy from ten ... the boy from twelve ... and lastly, the girl from ten. Why didn't they put her in order? Wasn't she the last canon blast? The real quiet one? Why was the real quiet one quiet in the first place? Why wasn't it nice and loud like the others? Why?

And yet, little did I know, that in a matter of seven years, all of these questions would be answered. If only I knew now.

But it's too bad I didn't. Because I won't know for a while. And many,_ many_ sad things will happen while I'm in this arena.

I could just tell.

* * *

**Review?**

**~Nikki**


	13. The Games Part III: Fight For Our Lives

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**10. The Games Part III: Selena. Selena Yodis.**

* * *

I woke up to an abrupt screaming. I shot up in my spot, seeing the sun directly above me. I'd only slept since one, which was about six hours. I scanned the around-area and saw an older-looking girl running into the clearing. She shot up a neighboring tree and clung to the trunk tightly. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and clenched her teeth.

She had long dark hair with red, natural-looking highlights. She had pale skin and icy blue eyes.

"Hey!" Piper whispered quietly, "That's that one chick from D Three! Her name's something like ... Belinda ... Selinda ... Seleste ... Selene ... Selene Yoda or something like that."

I chuckled quietly, "Wasn't that from that one old movie centuries ago, uh ... wasn't it like, Moon Battles or something? Or Star Battles? Or Moon Wars? Or ... Star Wars-STAR WARS! That's it!"

She nodded. "Yeah! That is it."

"Who are you?" The girl whisper-yelled.

We froze. We forgot about her.

"You first, chica!" I told her.

"Fine." She sighed and took over a James Bond voice. Whoever he is. "I'm Selena. Selena Yodis."

I nodded, "I'm ... I'm Laurette, that's Piper, Ace is this girl right here," I pointed to her, "and this is Ruby." I gestured to her.

She nodded. "C-can I help you guys? You seem ... safe. Saf_er_ than being alone. Please?" She begged.

I sighed, "We're getting awfully big. Our alliance seems too big ... especially in a death game. I don't know. We'd have to think _very_ carefully about thi-"

"YES!" Piper exploded, but then regained herself, "I-I mean, yes, you can."

"What? No she cannot!" I said, turning on Piper.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Yes. She'll be the very last one."

"Are you sure? You're not going to invite others in? _Without _my permission?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Fine." I sighed, "Join. I don't care." I told Selena.

"Yay!" She clapped her hands and jumped over to our tree.

And we all went back to sleep ...

And woke up at sunset.

"Laurie!" A voice whispered.

I rolled over groggily, sucking in a breath through my nose. Just then, a loud bomb exploded. At first, I thought it was the death mark for somebody. But it wasn't. My heart jumped and I shot up.

"ATTACK!" People shouted from below.

Just then, an arrow lodged into my shoulder.

I shrieked and rolled over, right on top of the other four girls. Selena, Ace, Ruby and Piper all shot awake.

Ruby carefully yanked the arrow out of my back and pulled out her bow and arrow, much like mine. I followed her lead, as did Ace, grabbing her axe and Piper, grabbing her dagger. Selena pulled out her bow and arrow, too.

Another blind attack happened again, too. I throwing knife was stuck into my thigh. I shrieked and fell off the tree. I landed on the ground on my non-injured foot and I supported myself with my hands. I landed perfectly. Somehow. Weird.

"Get her!" A voice screamed.

And in seconds, I was surrounded. Surrounded by ... Careers. And Sky. So, to make a total, four boys and one girl. I think their names were Julia, Egor, Darren or DK, Jax and, I know this already, Sky. And another boy. One standing next to Jax. I think his name was Demitri. Wait! He was that _jerk_ I saw before! He was with Selena, in her district!

"What the hell do you want?" I asked roughly, angrily, avoiding their eyes.

"We're going to kill you." The bigger guy, Jax, said.

I shook my head. "Run." I whispered.

"What?" The asked.

"RUN YOU GUYS!" I screamed to the other girls ... my allies.

Someone kicked me in the side and I fell over, tears blinding me. "JUST-GET-IT-FREAKING-OVER-WITH." I said each word with emphasis.

I saw a vague outline of a sword, raised by Jax. He brought it down with such force, I could hear it whipping through the wind. But then I saw something cut the sword off and throw it back. Another sword. Another sword handled by ... Sky.

They fought, sword to sword combat for a few moments when the girls came down from the tree, weapons raised, screaming.

I threw my head back and laughed, "Wow, you guys are _so_ weird."

They all grinned and continued their invasion. They dodged around Jax and Sky and went right up to the others. They fought them and Ruby managed to kill off one. I think it was ... I don't know. Maybe that Egor kid?

Selena was facing off with that boy from her own district. Demitri. She, somehow, lost her bow and arrow and was now fighting sword to sword combat with him. She wasn't half bad. But then, it started to rain. The sun was almost set and it was gonna rain. Wanna guess how bad that is for girls with super long hair that sticks together and gets in your face when it rains? It's _really_ bad. _And_ to top it all off, it's gonna be _dark_ out soon. Not a good mix.

"Selena!" I shouted.

She grunted something that sounded like, "What the heck do you want? I'm kinda busy."

"Ace! Take her place!" I ordered, passing Ace a hair band. She smiled and pulled her hair back.

"Good idea, Laur, thanks!"

"Sel! Stand down! Back up quickly!" I ordered.

Selena did as I said, backin up right into me. And it started pouring. Ace fought with Demitri unfairly-sword to freaking _axe_ and almost came out a winner. But it was too bad Demitri was training his whole life for this.

I gave Selena a hair band and she happily pulled her hair back, just as I showed her, seconds before.

"Piper!" I yelled. She was facing off with DK _and_ Julia. With-a-knife. Against a sword and a trident. Not fair.

Piper whirled around in a circle. But then I saw something. She'd stolen one of my throwing knives. And she was fighting single handedly-literally.

So anyway, she whirled, slashing her knife into DK's throat. Blood covered his throat, inside as well, and choked him. He gurgled on his blood and fell to the ground.

"DARREN!" Julia shrieked, jumping back a good five feet.

"Julia!" DK (or, Darren) choked out.

"Darren?" She asked, tears forming.

"Goodbye, Julia. I lov-" but it was too late. He was already dead. And he slumped to the ground.

**(By the way. Is it okay if Julia's fifteen instead of thirteen?)**

"Darren!" Julia cried, falling to the ground at Piper's feet. "Kill me now! NOW!" She screamed, clutching at the grass and pulling its roots out.

Piper sadly shook her head. "I had no choice." She whispered, "He wanted to kill me. He wanted to kill my friends ... my family. My friends are my family. I want them to live. I'm sorry, Julia."

Julia shook her head and words just tumbled out on their own accord. "B-but no. _No. _NO! H-he can-n't be d-d-d-d-d-dead!" She said, choking in breaths during her sentence.

Piper held out her hand, "If you give up, you can join us. We can help you. We can win."

"PIPER NO!" I yelled, but it was too late.

She'd already fallen into the trap.

Julia grabbed her hand timidly and in seconds, she had yanked Piper down, had her in a headlock, stolen a knife and had it pointed at her throat.

"YOU WILL PAY! YOU KILLED HIM! HE DIDN'T EVEN SAY HE LOVED ME! HE WAS ABOUT TO, TOO! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT MISTAKE! YOU'LL DIE!" She shouted.

I gritted my teeth, reluctantly aimed my arrow and let go. It was all I had to do. And it struck her on the throat, and she dropped over, dead. And it was all over.

As soon as her grip had left, Piper dropped away from Julia, choking and gasping for breath. I ran up and helped her to her feet, letting her rest her weight on me.

I glanced over at the Jax/Sky battle and saw Sky yelling at Jax to 'better run'. He was gone.

Moments later, two small canon shots went up. Darren and Julia's. But why were they so freaking quiet? Why weren't they loud like the first six at the Cornucopia?

I then remembered Selena and Ace. My head whipped around in their direction to see Selena ... ew! She was like, _sucking_ the dude's _face_ off! And I wouldn't doubt she had her tongue down his throat.

"Uh, Sel? What kinda torture are you giving out?" I asked, staring, horror-struck at her and frozen.

She broke away, red as an apple and smiled sheepishly, "I-uh, was just ... _saving! _Saving him from a bug that was crawling ... down his ..." she mumbled something else unintelligibly.

"What?" I asked.

"I SAID IT WAS CRAWLING DOWN HIS THROAT, OKAY?" She screamed.

I laughed. Yup. She _did_ have her tongue down his throat.

Instantly, someone was at my side. It was ... I glanced over. GREEEEAAAAAT. It was Mr. I Love You, Now I'm Going To Join Forces With The Evil Freaking Careers. I know, he had a looooong name, right?

"Listen, I'm sorry, Laur. I didn't mean anything I put you through. I'm so sorry." He apologized and went on and on.

Finally, I was so annoyed that I leaned over and kissed him to shut him up.

He smiled. "I really am sorry."

I rolled my eyes.

* * *

**I know some of you hate me but you'll LOVE me in the end! REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**

**PS-In the end, you'll get what I mean!**


	14. The Games Part IV:TeardropsOnMyBow&Arrow

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games! SORRY FOR THE LATE CHAP! I WAS SUUUPPPEER BUSY!**

**11. The Games Part IV: Teardrops On My Bow and Arrow**

* * *

Week two since the Career attack. I miss my family, I miss my life, and most of all, I miss the normal, boring, not to mention _safe,_ everyday schedule I had. The annoying old repetitive schedule. I miss the quirky, ditsy Christine. And the oh, so, serious Marak. I miss the too pretty Ellen. I miss my best friend Carridity. Even after that stupid, silly little fight. I also remember that slave girl. She was from District Twelve. She needed money for her little brother who was sick. Her name was ...

_Leevy. I had just learned her name. Leevy ... that's a different name. Quite different. I heard she was from the Seam. Her slave-ness was a last resort._

_I felt a tap on my shoulder. I gasped and spun around._

_"Hello, miss." Leevy smiled sweetly._

_"Why hello ... I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?" I lied._

_"It is Leevy. Now, would you like some tea?" She asked._

_I shook my head. "Here. Go back to your district." I said, shoving as much money as I had with me in her hands._

_She shook her head and dropped the money. "No. I came to _earn_ my money, miss. Not steal it."_

_I sighed, "Please just take the money. You miss your family. I can see it."_

_She inhaled deeply, "Okay. Maybe you're right. Alright. Well, see, my brother. He was ... he was very, very sick. We brought him to a girl. She was my age. Katniss was her name. She had a mother. A healer. Her younger sister had gained that trait, too, though she's only four. They were quite a team. They saved my brother. We're all out of money now, though. So we need money. Desperately."_

_Once she had finished, I sighed, scooped up the money and said, "Pick the amount. I don't care if it's all. I don't care if it's only a little fraction. Alright?"_

_She smiled politely, edged about a tenth of the money out of the stack and beamed. "Thank you so much."_

_I smiled back. "Now go catch that train back to the Seam."_

_And she walked out._

I sighed. Leevy ... I wonder what she's doing now. That whole predicament with her was just two years ago. I actually kind of missed her.

A scream tugged me out of my thoughts instantaneously. My head snapped up in that direction.

"RETTA!" Ace whisper-yelled.

I spun around in that direction. I saw a pale-faced Ace run forward.

"What is it, Ace? Spit it out!" I told her impatiently.

"It's Piper. And she's in _huge_ trouble."

* * *

Piper lay on the ground, her usual beautiful mocha-colored skin, covered in sweat. Her lips were pale, her eyes were tearing heavily and she was coughing the driest, most throat burning cough I had ever heard in my life.

"Piper!" I cried, kneeling down beside her.

She whispered raspy and dryly in response, "I can feel ... the fight. Something must've ... exploded. I must have ... some ... type of ... internal bleeding." She finished hoarsely, taking gasps for breath in her pauses.

I sprinted to a nearby stream, freaking out, looking around, left to right, trying to find something. I decided on a big, sturdy-looking leaf.

I shot up the tree and tore it down. I rolled it into a cone, dipped it into the water and sprinted back to Piper. Of course, by the time I got there, the cone had deflated and most of the water had dripped out. But I relentlessly splashed the water in her face, down her throat, _anywhere that could help!_

But of course, it couldn't. She obviously fainted sometime in the course of now and two weeks ago. Heck, she'd probably fainted _multiple_ times, unmonitored.

I was so stupid. I saw her limping just a few days ago. Alas, even if we _did_ figure out the pain she was hiding, we _still, THEN, _wouldn't be able to do any help. It was unaviodable. She was going to die.

Tears, fresh and hot, streamed down my sun-burned cheeks, burning them as they flowed. I gasped for breath and hunched over, unable to stand.

"She's not gonna ... she's not gonna make it is she?" Ace asked.

I shook my head vigorously, shutting my eyes tightly.

"I'll tell the girls when they wake up." Ace said, her voice shaky and she ran out.

I guessed she didn't want to cry in front of anyone. Truth is, _I_ didn't want to cry in front of anyone either. But ... desperate times call for desperate measures. Just like Leevy's situation.

Piper sucked in a breath and cried out in pain. One simple sentence tumbled from her mouth, "Thank you, Laurette ... for everything." She sucked in another and choked out another, "I thank everyone. All the girls." And she became still.

I shakily shut her eyes and leaned over and cried on her unmoving arm.

Perhaps I was waiting for them to move. And yet ... they didn't. My first alliance. Dead. Already. Just a simple matter of weeks into the games and she's just ... she's just dead. Piper. The one that was there for me first.

I hugged her, turned her lips upward, as if into a goodbye smile, the one I'd always seen her wearing. I took her wrists and clasped her hands together. I surrounded her with the fresh autumn leaves-which, by the way was _weird_ since it was like, June-and ended up crying all over again.

But I had to leave. The canon boomed, late for some reason, the quiet boom. What was _with_ that? They _really_ needed to fix the dang sound system crap, 'cuz it ain't workin'.

I sprinted back to the tree. I shot up it and sat beside Ace, not meeting her gaze, just fairly staring off into space.

She rubbed my arm nearest to her. "She gone yet? I heard a canon."

I simply nodded and new, fresh tears sprouted in my eyes.

* * *

**OKAY! SORRY FOR THE LATE CHAP! I WAS BUSY BUSY BUUUSSSYYY! Anyways, anybody remember our old friend, Leevy? From Catching Fire? AND I added Katniss's name into it. Haha. Anyways, like the whole 'foreshadowing Rue's death' thing with the autumn leaves? When Katniss buried Rue in flowers? Except Laurette surrounds her older sis in autumn leaves? Get it? It foreshadows!**

**Thanks for reading! AND MY AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END!**

**REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**


	15. The Games Part V: Death, 2 Additions

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games! Another sad chap! I REEEAALLY hope the creator isn't mad at me though!**

**12. The Games Part V: Two More Additions? And ... Another Death.**

* * *

We had told the girls. We also told Sky and Demitri but ... they're not girls. AND they didn't cry. I ran and hid when Ace, who, for the record, was stronger than me to hold back tears to tell. She had Ruby come and get me when she finished.

"Hey," Ruby said.

I gave her a simple wave of my hand.

"I'm sorry about Piper."

I looked up at her with red, angry eyes and a tear-stained face. I noticed hers were red and tear-stained as well.

"You didn't know her."

She nodded, "That's very true, Laurette. But did you?"

I nodded and spoke, "The day I met her and we joined alliance, we talked all night. Of our lives, of our regrets, of our biggest secrets. Of our troubles with guys ... she comforted me after mine. We became best friends over night."

She nodded. "Well I understand you. But you still have-"

And guess what cut her off? Her head fell off. Nah, I'm just kidding. Seriously, though, this is no joking matter. Something fell and landed on her head and she fell.

"RUBY!" I screamed.

Guess what fell on her? A tracker jacker nest.

"NO!" I screamed, looking undecidedly for what to do.

"HELP!" She screamed in her high, shrill voice.

"Nope. And you are very, _very_ welcome, girls." A voice said from above us, in the tree.

"JAX!" I screamed angrily, looking around for something to throw. I settled on a nice sized rock and chucked it. It hit him in the head and shocked him, but then he just laughed.

"Wow, yeah, _that_ hurt." He laughed.

But then as the tracker jackers surrounded Ruby, he dropped his spear right on her, and it landed, piercing through her stomach.

"RUN!" Ruby yelled.

So I did. And two seconds later, after I had safely climbed up the tree, a small, quiet canon sounded. And guess what I did next? I cried.

* * *

I woke up in Sky's arms. My head against his chest, his arms holding me comforting-ly against him. He was rubbing my hair, or, the back of my head, with his thumb. I stirred and my eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, you're awake." He whispered, kissing my forhead.

I gripped the collar of his shirt, shimmying myself up the circle of his arms and kissed him. He turned his head in such a way to deepen the kiss. He forced my mouth open and rolled on top of me. I pulled away, a bit too soon and smiled at him.

"Are you okay about the whole ... Ruby/Piper thing?"

And I had _just_ forgotten about that, too!

I sighed and pushed him back, so we were lying beside each other, me wrapped in his arms.

"I almost forgot, too, you know." I said, my voice shaking and I buried my face in his chest.

Oh, man, this must've won over the whole crowd. The whole, make out session and the crying in his arms. We were going to be the couple of the century. Great.

"Another two girls came. They rescued you from the tree. You must've passed out up there. They had been spying on us and thought if they rescued you, then we'd take them in. So ... we did."

"WHAT?" I exploded, jumping up.

"Well, they did save and spare you."

"Who are they?" I said ferociously.

"Johanna and Violet."

* * *

**How was that? And the list of DEAD people:**

**DEAD TRIBUTES:**

**Ruby Zershmeide (D2)**

**Julia (D4)**

**Darren King "DK" (D4)**

**Pansy (D6)**

**Raolf Wryburn (D6)**

**Eli Ghoirzori (D8)**

**Thailey Horonsm (D9)**

**Egor (D9)**

**Hailie Vernon (D10)**

**Rian Bulgoze (D10)**

**Piper (D11)**

**Bret Wiley (D12)**

**THAT'S IT! Everyone else will make an appearance in the next two chaps!**

**Review!**

**~Nikki**


	16. The Games Part VI: Well, What Now?

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games! Also, PLEEEASE check out my youtube video!**

**ht tp : / / w ww . youtube . com /watch?v=BdIwJG6QAD4**

**PLEEAASE? And click the Like button if you like it! And comment too!**

**13. The Games Part VI: Well, What Now?**

* * *

I paced back and forth, back and forth.

"Well . . . what now, exactly?" Ace asked.

"Well I don't know, Sherlock!" I snapped. Once it left my mouth I regretted it, squeezed my eyes shut and apologized, "Sorry. Just a _little _stressed, considering this _is_ all rocket science and it _is _all life or death."

"Wait, who's ... who's Sherlock?" Johanna asked.

I sighed, shaking my head, "WHO KNOWS!"

She smirked. "Smart."

I rolled my eyes, "Saw it in an old movie once. But that's beside the point!"

"Well," she began, "What if we start out by ... I don't know. What should do?"

"I, actually and surprisingly, have an idea." Violet said, eyebrowss raised, hand raised with it.

I smiled, hiding my annoyance for the newcomers and asked, "Well?"

"Well, who's left?" She started.

"Uh ... well, you and Sky, the last remaining Career from District Two, Selena, Demitri, me, Salem," A small smile lit her face when she said his name, "From my district. Then it's Ace, her District Seven friend, that one girl I met at training, uh, Cotton, her name was. Then there's the District Eleven boy, and Johanna. That's it. Twelve of us. And only one is incredibly violent. That's Jax."

"Yeah, I know who's who." I said icily.

She sighed, "Well, I personally think that we should split up, kill and attack. Our main point ... _Jax._" She smiled deviously.

"And if we meet someone particularly in the wrong place at the wrong time ... ?" I persisted.

She shrugged and leaned against a tree, "Simple. We kill 'em off."

I sighed, "But what if they don't deserve to-"

"_Everyone_ in this arena will die, regardless the winner. They'll die eventually." Violet said in a hard, bitter voice, glaring at me.

"Fine." I said angrily and grabbed my bow and arrow, "Why don't we just take our little weapons and kill each other right now?" I asked furiously.

"Now hold on." Sky whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I turned on him and pushed him away, "Why don't I just kill all of you? And while I'm at it, why don't I just kill myself, too?" I yelled.

They all vigorously shook their heads.

I threw my bow and arrows to the ground and kicked and punched the nearest tree repeatedly until it was all out of my system. Afterward, I slid to the ground, letting the tears come.

I swear on my life, if I had to spend more than five more days here, I'm going to explode.

But then it happened. The explosion.

It hit the ground near Johanna and Violet, they, along with Selena and Demitri, flew backwards, all simultaneously hitting their heads against a large and relatively hard tree trunk. I froze. They didn't move. Their chests neither rose, nor fell.

I ran up, tears clouding my vision and checked each of the spots where their hearts _should_ be beating. None of them were.

I broke down into loud treacherous sobs as a crying Ace, who seemed gave up her strength, and my Sky carried me back to the tree.

The four canons went off, soft and quiet, as annoying as freaking _heck!_ WHY WERE THEY DOING THAT? WHY WEREN'T THEY NICE AND LOUD LIKE THE FIRST FEW THE DAY OF THE BLOODBATH? It's killing me that they are incredibly quiet. And it's killing me that I just lost four in my alliance, and four of my friends. My clever, clever friends whom I owed much. And now they were just ... dead.

And in the next few hours, I sat and cried 'till my eyes ran dry and I then vowed that I, Laurette Emerlyn, would never shed a tear again.

Of course, _that_ was one of the _stupidest_ vows I had ever given, but still. I did anyways.

And now ... as I cried myself to sleep, I realized that these games weren't going to last much longer.

* * *

**Review?**

**DEAD TRIBUTES:**

**Ruby Zershmeide (D2)**

**Selena (D3)**

**Demitri Getlyn (D3)**

**Julia (D4)**

**Darren King "DK" (D4)**

**Violet Rose (D5)**

**Pansy (D6)**

**Raolf Wryburn (D6)**

**Eli Ghoirzori (D8)**

**Thailey Horonsm (D9)**

**Egor (D9)**

**Hailie Vernon (D10)**

**Rian Bulgoze (D10)**

**Piper (D11)**

**Johanna Drake (D12)**

**Bret Wiley (D12)**

**Aaaaaand that's it! Review please!**


	17. The Games Part VII: Switching Around

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**14. The Games Part VII: Switching Around**

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**Cotton's POV (D8)**

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I sighed as I stared at the face of the guy I hated most in these games-Christopher. I swear, one more minute with him, the second he turns his back, he'll have a dagger in his back, courtesy of _moi_. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists.

"C'mon now, Cotton. We need to finish hunting." He said sweetly.

I rolled my eyes. He was just like that one guy ... uh ... Finnick O'dair from District Four that won a few years back.

We trudged on and on until we reached a clearing. I fidgeted with the wrist of my jacket and bit my nails.

"C'mon, Cotton, let's go." He said, placing a hand on my back and forcing me to move forward with him.

I shook my head, digging my heels into the ground, "Nope. Not gonna happen, dude. If you wanna be killed by Jax, go 'head. I don't care. Just, not me. I'm not gonna be killed by hi-"

Christopher shook his head, "No, you won't die. Because no matter what, I'll protect you and make sure you don't-"

"BUT YOU CAN'T!" I nearly shrieked.

He placed a hand on my cheek and a hand on the tree behind me, "Shh, shh, shh, Cotton. Calm down. You'll be fine, sweety."

I shook my head, closing my eyes shut, fighting back the blush creeping up.

He smiled and kissed me, full on the lips, "There. All right, give me a smile ... that's it, that's it. Great. See? Beautiful."

And this time, _I _was the one who kissed him.

**A DAY LATER, SKY, ACE AND LAURETTE STUMBLED ACROSS THEM AND COTTON AND CHRISTOPHER JOINED THEM AND TRUDGED ON.**

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**Taftan's POV (D11)**

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I just couldn't believe it. Piper was dead? I had actually cried that day. Her little sister was one of my best friends. She was five years younger but still ... Rue's not gonna be too happy about this.

"I feel like dying." Salem commented randomly.

Salem was my alliance.

"Why?" I asked as I attempted to make a fire with flint. See, I may be twelve but I'm not _totally_ useless.

"Violet's dead." He said in a dead, disconnected voice.

"Oh," I smirked, "So it's the girl from your district you're oh-so-attatched to. You know, she was gonna die, regardless of your attempts to save her. That is, unless she'd be victor. And yet, you'd _still_ be unable to have a 'happily ever after'. You know, you're lucky your district can even _get_ those. In District Eleven, that's far from reality. It's a freaking fantasy to be lucky enough." I muttered.

"Who do you like?" He asked over his shoulder. He was rubbing sticks togther for a fire. I couldn't see his face, but in his tone of voice, I suspected eyebrow wiggling.

I sighed, "It's no one."

"Who?" He asked in his best eyebrow-wiggling voice.

I sighed, "I like Piper's little sister, okay? But she's like, _way_ younger than me. But she's one of my very best friends and in our district, it's _way_ different on the age things in yours."

He spoke quietly, "You like Rue?"

"How do you know her name?" I snapped.

He shrugged, "She's just ... Piper. Piper told me a bit about her during training. I had actually spoke with Piper a bit."

I nodded, "I guess. But at least now, if she's even _watching_, she knows. Or if someone else who's watching tells her."

He smiled, "Yeah I guess. I just wish Violet had known. That I liked her, I mean."

I smiled teasingly, "So you _do_ like her."

"I didn't say that!" He jumped up.

I nodded, "Oh yes, yes, you did."

**A DAY LATER, SKY, ACE, LAURETTE, CHRISTOPHER AND COTTON STUMBLED ACROSS THEM, THEY JOINED TOGETHER AND SET OFF TO HUNT DOWN THE MISCHIEVOUS AND INFAMOUS JAX TO FACE POSSIBLE IMMINENT DEATH.**

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**

**Review?**

**~Nikki**


	18. The Games Part VIII: Facing The End

**The 69th Annual Hunger Games!**

**15. The Games Part VIII: Facing The End**

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"Cotton!" I screamed.

She turned to me. "What?"

I bit my lip and quieted everyone down and gestured to the big, chunky black spider on her shoulder.

She glanced down and bit her lip. She let a small whimper escape and stared at us pleadingly.

I stepped forward. _That,_ my friends, ruined it all.

The spider immediately grew five times, bit Cotton on the neck and ripped the skin out. She shrieked and began to run.

Christopher yelled, "Hold still, Cot! I'll save you!" And he ran in.

"RUN!" Cotton screamed to everyone.

Christopher didn't listen. He fought against the spider and, in the end, the spider bit and bit, until both of them lay still on the ground.

"Muttation." I whispered.

"RUN!" Ace suddenly screamed.

We ran as the big black spider chased us. The spider went up to my shoulder in size. It was _huge._ And no doubt, its bites were venomous as they were poisonous.

I didn't have time to even shed a tear for my 'dear friends' whom I had only met for a day. But I probably would've at least mourned if I'd had the chance. But not now.

In seconds, the spider disappeared and we were in a clearing. I suddenly became _very_ jumpy.

"L-let's leave." I said and tried to run into the forest. But something blocked me, sending me back a few feet.

"Are you all right?" Sky asked, instantly by my side.

I nodded and picked myself up.

"It's like the fiftieth. The Second Quell. The _force fields_." Ace murmured.

I shot up, "You're exactly correct! How do you remember that?"

She raised an eyebrow, looking at me. "How do you even _know_ that?"

I shook my head, "A tape my mother recorded. How do you?"

"Same. Except it was my _grandfather_ that recorded it on a tape."

Just then, Jax bursted through the foliage and right through the forcefield with his three weapons.

Jaxthen saw us. His eyes flared with his nostrils and he charged forward, right towards me. He positioned himself, ripped out two throwing knives and, in seconds, flung them forward.

"NO!" Ace screamed, jumping in front of the knife.

In mid-air, I attempted to push her away but to no avail.

The knives lodged themselves in her stomach and thigh.

"ACE!" I screamed, dropping down beside her.

Instantaneously, Taftan and Salem were up double-teaming Jax and fighting them in sword combat. Sky was beside me in seconds, holding my hand.

"Go on. Without me. Alright?" Ace urged as strongly as she could.

I inhaled shakily and stood up. "Alright."

And as Sky and I walked away from her, we heard a quiet canon and saw the hovercraft pick her body up and fly away.

My head jerked over to where Taftan and Salem were sword fighting. In a blink of an eye, it all happened. It happened so quickly, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Taftan walked around Salem and faced his back. Jax whipped out his spear and skewered the two like a kabob. He pushed them aside, two quiet canons rang as instantly as it happened, the hovercraft came and left.

And it was just down to us.

Two against one.

Surely, on good odds, we'd win. But these were the Hunger Games. There were no good odds.

And I was correct. Because in the next seconds, Jax crossed over to us, grabbed his dagger and plunged it into Sky's heart.

I screamed. To be honest, I _shrieked. Six_octaves higher than my normal singing voice. It was as clear as a bell, rang and reflected throughout the clearing and pierced my ears. It must've Jax's too because he fell back seven feet, clutching his ears. It didn't have the same impact on mine.

I kneeled down beside him and kissed him. I took his hand.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too." He replied, his eyes shut and his breathing stopped.

My eyebrows creased as I saw something in his hand. It was a wallet. I ripped it from his hands and fumbled with my shaking hands to open it. When I finally succeeded, out popped a picture of me. My hands balled into fists as I dropped the picture and the wallet. _That_ was his token. And not only his Hunger Games token. No, _that,_ my dear friends, was his token of his love for me. And he died with it.

The canon blew. Soft and quiet as can be.

At that second, it hardened me. I jumped up, charged over to a smirking Jax, ripped my heart necklace off, pressed the button Waverly and Quell had told me to and instantly, it transformed into a dagger. I charged forward, yelling and plunged it into his heart. An impulse. Who ever knew it would save me. But before it did, he plunged one of his knives into my side. A canon blew, nice and loud, finally, thank the Lord, and I was caught between triumph and sadness. Who's canon was it?

I blocked out all immense pain enough to see Jax drop to the ground, dead.

And the last thing I remembered hearing before I blacked out was Claudius Templesmith saying, "Ladies and gentlemen! Your 69th Hunger Games victor!"

And I let myself fall into that deep dark, open abyss that felt as soft as flowing water.


	19. Epilogue: 10 Years Later

**Epilogue: 10 Years Later**

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_I was running. Running hard. Jax was gaining on me, that I was positive. He wanted me. Wanted me dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. So he could win. And _that_ is why he haunts my dreams every night ever since that dreadful year. Not out of guilt, not out of sorrow, not even out of pleasure that I had killed him. Out of fear and the fact he _still_ wants me dead._

_I looked back to see Jax morph into big spider muttation that begun gaining on me. I looked to my right seeing Cotton and Christopher lying there, dead. I looked to my left, seeing ... nope. I couldn't even bear to _think_ his name, let alone say it. But next to him was Ace. My best friend in the arena. And next to her was Ruby and next to her was Salem and next to him was Taftan and next to him was Piper and next to her was Demitri and next to him was Selena. Long list, huh? And yet, it still wasn't long enough. I was still missing some vital points in this whole group._

_But then, Jax turned back into himself and jumped on me. And plunged the knife into my heart._

I kicked and screamed myself awake. When I finally came to, I was gasping for breath, holding the covers closer to me.

When I finally calmed down, I pushed the covers back, walked out of my bedroom in my enormous victor's mansion and into my kitchen. I flicked on the lights and reached into my fridge for something to eat. I pulled out a granola bar, brought to me by ... Piper's district, where my good friend once lived. But now she's dead.

I nibbled on it for a good chunk of time, thinking about the rebellion five years ago. And how Katniss, the victor of the 74th Hunger Games, along with Peeta, got _her_ happy ending. I didn't get mine. Sure, she lost her sister. Sure, she lost lots of her friends. But in the end, she got her true love and children, on top of it all.

Quell and Waverly were still sound asleep upstairs with my brothers. Carridity lived in the guest room on this level, with mine and my parents had been killed in the rebellion. And ever since, we've banded together to make a living together. To survive. Something I learned in the games.

Just then, I heard movement at the foyer. My eyebrows scrunched together as I slowly turned in my chair, spinny and comfy, of course, hopped off and quietly walked down the stairs. I peered through a glass door at the foyer. Nothing.

But then, as I turned, motion caught the corner of my eye. It was a dark, shadowy figure.

I slid the glass door open and walked to the foyer, "Who are you and what do you want?" I ordered stiffly, yet softly enough to not rouse my family.

"Just some old friends." The deep voice replied.

And just then, something connected.

Sure, that voice was deeper than I knew, but I still_ knew_ the voice. I straightened up as they all stepped out of the shadows.

And I screamed. Loudly, clearly and beautifully. Purely out of shock.

Because the figures standing before me were Sky, Ace, Piper, Ruby, Violet, Johanna, Salem, Taftan, Cotton, Christopher, Selena, Demitri, even Julia and DK, and even one girl I very vaguely remembered. But still. They were there.

And guess what I did next. I did exactly what each and everyone of you would do if you were in this predicament.

I fainted.

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**It's not over yet.**


	20. Epilogue Part 2

**Epilogue Part 2**

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I stirred awake, my dreams of my dead Hunger Games friends washing away. I peered around, realizing it was all a dream.

I choked up.

"Laurie, what's wrong?" A deep, calm voice asked from beside me.

I burst into tears. But realizing that voice wasn't supposed to be here, I screamed and fell off my bed.

"Laurie," the owner of the voice lifted my still-small figure in his arms.

I gripped the collar of that person's shirt, "Who the hell are you?" I demanded, ice layering my voice.

The light flicked on. I froze, my eyes widened just as I realized that his face was just an inch from mine.

My gaze flicked down to his lips and back up. He smiled, leaned in and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him as close as I could. Tears streamed down my face, realizing this was all real and not a dream.

He held me close but pulled back, rubbing his thumb gently against my cheek. "I love you." He whispered.

I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn't speak. I buried my head in his chest.

He held me close and hummed quietly to me. He sat down on the edge of my bed and rested his chin on my head.

"Love you too." I whispered.

He kissed the top of my head, "Everyone's downstairs talking to your family and friend, Carridity."

I stiffened, "You mean they're still alive?"

He nodded, "They're downstairs. Want to go see them?"

I looked into his eyes, "How are they still alive?"

"They actually wanted to tell you that." He smiled gently.

"Can we go down to them?"

He nodded eagerly.

I hopped off his lap, took his hand and ran down the steps to the huge living room. In the living room were about five three-person comfy couches, a loveseat and a recliner. I ran down the steps, flung open the glass door and beamed when I saw all of my friends, family and even former enemies in the seats.

They all stood up. Sky followed behind me quickly.

"Laurette!" An older looking Piper squealed as she flung her arms around me.

I hugged her back tightly, "Piper! Guys, how are you all alive? And how did you make friends with our enemies?"

Piper pulled back as every one of my friends from the arena hugged me. DK, Julia and the vaguely familiar girl stood back, keeping distance.

"Your family and friend, Carridity are so nice!" Ruby exclaimed.

I smiled as I hugged her, "I know. But Carridity has been having a hard time ever since her mother died in the rebellion and her sister died last year of an allergy infection. My two brothers are the best, although I didn't get to meet my youngest brother until _after_ the ... the _thing_ happened." I said, avoiding the words, 'Hunger' and 'Games'.

Sky wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "Still as small and as sensitive as ever, huh?" He kissed the top of my head as I rolled my eyes.

"So you didn't have Theo as your brother before the games?" Piper asked.

I nodded, "He's seventeen years younger than me. Quell, Mansen and Waverly should be introducing him and themselves." I said pointedly towards them.

"Happy birthday," Sky whispered in my ear.

I snapped back. "Huh?"

"Today's your birthday, silly." He smiled.

I shook my head, "No. It's not. Is it?"

He nodded, "It is. It's exactly ten years since the day I 'died' and you won. You won on your birthday."

"Really?" I asked.

Quell nodded, stepping forward, "Yes, you did."

"Really?" I asked again.

"Yeah," James, my brother-in-law, Carridity's brother _and_ Waverly's husband said.

"Okay, well, leave it to me to forget my own birthday." I said and whacked myself on the forhead.

"Maggie's on her way here through the blizzard." Quell told me, "She loves to visit _on your birthday_."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine. But introduce your little 'friends'." I told them.

"Okay," Piper began, "Well this is DK and Julia,"

"The ones who tried to kill you?" I asked.

She smiled and took their hands, "The very ones. _That_ is Hailie, a District Ten tribute that was 'killed last' in the bloodbath. Now, let us tell you about how we're still alive."

I nodded and we all sat down.

"So," Sky began, pulling me against him and wrapping his arms around me, "we fought and _right_ before, about a few minutes before our hearts _should_ have stopped, the tracker in our arms went off and the cannon blew quietly. The hovercraft located our still-living bodies and dropped them into the body pile. A man by the name of Sage Judewood rescued our bodies and fixed us up. We rested in his basement for ten years, getting ready, all that stuff, waiting for the rebellion to finish and _then_ we'd make our impossible appearance. We took a while to travel here and we had to be careful. So it took a while." Sky shrugged.

I nodded, "But _some_ people-"

Selena shook her head, "No, you're not getting it, silly. See, if the person is killed quickly, and the heart stops, the cannon tends to get louder and more reliable. It was reliable for Jax, whom you killed wonderfully, by the way."

I beamed, "Thanks. And it's all because of my cheat-y, yet caring sisters. They gave me my token which turned out to be my weapon."

Cotton smiled and nodded, "Yeah, see, the trackers they injected into our arms were over-sensitive that year. Don't know why but I'd love to. Taftan and Salem, boy they were _close calls._ They were _skewered!_"

The both flinched.

Cotton gave a sympathetic smile, "Sorry, guys, but it's the truth."

Salem and Taftan nodded.

Piper sighed sadly, "My sister died in the Seventy-Forth games. She was allied with the famous rebellion instigator, Katniss Everdeen. Peeta was _so_ cute-I-I mean, I don't know-wh-what Peeta?" She stuttered.

We all cracked up.

A knock rapped against the front door.

"I'll get it!" Johnathan said, hopping up.

I guessed it was Maggie, or, as you know her from the Justice Building, Magdelaina. Or Laina. He always had a thing for her.

"Ooh, is it your girlfriend, Johnny?" I smirked.

Everyone broke out into laughter.

John stuck his tongue out like the oh-so-mature thirty year old he is and ran to get the door.

"Johnny!" I heard Laina squeal.

I laughed harder. She and John walked in, their hands swinging between them like two childhood lovers. That was a _weird_ sentence. Even for me. But I was on the floor at this point. So was everyone else.

"What?" Asked Laina.

Laina, with her darkly tanned skin, dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes and fur coat looked so clueless.

"And who are these people? And why do they look so familiar?" She asked.

I threw my head back and laughed as I took her other hand and led her around the room, introducing everybody.

"Laina and gentlemen, these are the somehow-living dead tributes of the Sixty-Ninth Hunger Games! The odds were _ever_ in our favor!"

And we all laughed our heads off.

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**One more chap to go! Then it's over. So review! And check out my new Hunger Games story, The Hunger Games of The Capitol's Past! Oooh so ominous!**

**REVIEW!**

**~Nikki**


	21. The REAL Epilogue

**The REAL Epilogue**

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**5 Years After The Two Previous Epilogues ...**

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I cradled my little two year old girl in my arms. Sky had the one year old. He was growing up just fine. _And _we had another on the way. Our lives had severely progressed. We were married five weeks after we found out about them. We had the two year old, Nica a few years after. She had my Carribean blue eyes and his golden hair. The one year old had Sky's emerald eyes and my golden brown hair. The one on the way ... well all we know is that she'll be born in a few months and she's a girl. So, party!

Piper ended up marrying Taftan. Selena married Demitri. Now, _that_ was a cute wedding. DK and Julia married a few months ago. That was absolutely adorable. Salem and Violet married. Hailie and her boyfriend from her district before she went into the games married. I think he was perfect for her. Christopher married Cotton. So cute! Ace went back and married her neighbor, Charlie. They have a baby girl. She's absolutely adorable. Johanna married her boyfriend. Ruby married a boy from her district. He was very, very immensly sweet. A few nights after my birthday when I found out about everyone, John proposed and married my cousin just months later. They have four children. Quell just married a nice young man from District Two. Waverly and James had two kids, Kristoff (boy) and Kierra (girl).

And that basically wraps up our lives. So ... goodbye, dear readers. And ... listen. Next time you come across some type of writer like Nikki, well ... expect a happy ending. She can't live without one. So count on her for a happily ever after. Thanks for reading about my ignored life story. See you never! Bye.


	22. Goodbye: An Author's Note

**A/N: **_PLEASE READ ALL!_

Hey guys! So basically I'm done with this site :(

Being on it kinda saddened and broke me 'cuz of all the flamers. Anyway, though, I DID grow because of all you sweethearts out there!

If you'd like to check out my new profile on my new favorite writing site, here it is! I have 29 stories posted! The further you go back, the least professional, nice-looking and polished they'll be. HINT: The best ones are on the first page! :D

figment users / 41089  
(Erase the spaces! ;D)

There it is! Please, I'd love it if you all check me out. Thank you all for loving my work and helping me and all of that. I am now, if you'll read one of my stories on that site, a MUCH better author. I'm actually working on a book, "Aurinia", it's listed first, which I am going to publish after I finish, edit, polish it and reach 500 hearts. So, join the site and read, comment/review, react and heart! You don't have to, but I'd love you forever if you will.

AND, I'll give you a free virtual plate of cookies. Okay, well, if you're doing something for me, they're not TOTALLY free but...

Thank you all again. I love each of you, even if I don't totally know you.

So… goodbye if I don't see you on figment! I'll keep my account up on here and everything. I'll even check back in periodically to see if y'all still love me :D

Goodbye :D I'm so sad now… :'(

Goodbye for the third time.

Here are some parting words (lyrics, haha):

_I'm makin' my way downtown, walkin' fast, faces past and I'm home now …_

_Do the pretty girl rock, SING IT WITH ME NOW! Don't hate us 'cuz we're beautiful…_

_I feel cold and lost in desperation. You build up hope but failure's all you'd know. Remember all the sadness and frustration, and __**let it go…**_

_You're gonna catch a cold, from the ice inside your soul… _(That one's for you, flamers of the world!)

_So tell me when you're gonna let me in. I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin. And if you have a minute, why don't we go talk about it somewhere only we know. This could be the end of everything, so why don't we go somewhere only we know? Somewhere __**only**__**we know…**_

_When you're gone, the pieces of my heart are missing too…_

_Now I'm feelin so fly like a G6!..._

_Why don't ya come on over Valerie?..._

_A drop in the ocean, a change in the weather. I was prayin' that you and me might end up together. It's like wishin for rain as I stand in the desert, but I'm holding you closer than most 'cuz you are __**my heaven…**_

_A falling star fell from your heart and landed in my eyes. How sweet the love as it tore through them and now it's left me blind. The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out; you've left me in the dark! No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight, in the shadow of your heart…_

_I'm gonna steal your heart away…_

_Ignorance is your new best friend…_

_It was only just a dream…_

_Raise your weapon and it's over. How does it feel now, to watch it burn, burn, burn?..._

_She lives in a fairytale, somewhere too far for us to find. Forgotten the taste and smell of the world that she's left behind. It's all about the exposure, the lens, I told her. The angles were all wrong, now she's ripping wings off of butterflies. Keep your feet on the ground while your head's in the clouds. Go get your shovel and we'll dig a deep hole to bury the castle, bury the castle…_

_Hey I just met you and this is crazy. But here's my number. So call me maybe!..._

_Everybody's waiting for you to break down. Everybody's watching to see the fallout. Even when you're sleeping, sleeping, keep your eyes open…_

_Don't you dare look out your window, darlin' everything's on fire…_

_**I'm glad you came, I'm glad you came…**_

~Nikki/Ash


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